Haywood-1-1Focus continued to shift from Europe to the Federal Reserve and the timing of a potential interest rate hike. While the Fed kept interest rates at near zero this week, as expected, the governing body of the central bank continued to remain bullish on the U.S. economy, fueling market expectations that interest rates will be raised at some point, although no further clarification of when this could occur was forthcoming.  Meanwhile, last week’s plunge in commodity prices continued, albeit at a slower rate than last week; gold fell to as low as $1,080 per ounce before rebounding on Friday to almost $1,100 and settling at $1,095 per ounce. Silver rose 1.2% for the week to finish at $14.74 per ounce, while platinum and palladium fell to $984 and 613 per ounce respectively. Gold mining equities followed the declining gold price as gold miners continued to deliver their Q2/15 production figures; the S&P/TSX Global Gold Index finished at 123.1. Base metals were mostly down this week, with nickel leading the way, falling a further 2.4% and breaking through the $5.00 per pound level before finishing at $4.99 per pound. Copper, lead and zinc each finished at $2.35, $0.77 and $0.87 per pound respectively. The fall in base metal prices was in contrast to the performance of the S&P/TSX Global Base Metals Index, which remained steady during the week finishing at 88.23. The UxC Long-Term Price for uranium fell for the second straight month to $44.00 per pound, down $2.00 per pound, while the UxC Broker Average Price (BAP) for uranium finished flat for the week at $36.00 per pound. Finally, WTI oil prices remained below the $50 per barrel mark, down 3% and finishing at $46.90 per barrel on Friday.

Click here for the full report.