A rising tide lifts all boats

A wide range of commodities benefited from improving sentiment towards the sector in the past week, even those – notably iron ore – where the underlying fundamentals remain distinctly bearish. Expectations of additional policy stimulus in China offset some poor (but New Year distorted) trade data for February. The announcement of further interest rate cuts and asset purchases from the ECB also helped the mood, although the bounce in equity markets capped safe-haven demand for gold.