Oil jumps, gold skids on last-minute US debt deal

Tuesday, 2 August 2011 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: Oil, industrial metals and grains rose on Monday and gold lost some safe-haven appeal after US lawmakers agreed to raise the US debt limit to avert default, but euphoria over the news could be brief, given a bleak macroeconomic outlook.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers were expected to vote later in the day on a White House-backed deal which raises the United States’ $14.3-trillion borrowing ceiling and cuts about $2.4 trillion from the deficit over the next decade.

“A deal has finally been reached and as a result of that, you should get euphoric buying in the commodity and equity markets,” said Jonathan Barratt, managing director at Commodity Broking Services in Sydney.

Even before US President Barack Obama announced that Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress had reached a compromise, oil rose more than a dollar and gold slipped from record highs as soon as Asian markets opened, with investors sensing a deal was coming.

Asian equities chased gains in US stock futures.

US crude rose $1.37 to $97.07 a barrel by 0607 GMT and Brent climbed $1.42 to $118.16. Spot gold fell more than 1 percent to as low as $1,607.69 an ounce, after hitting a record high of $1,632.30 on Friday.

But analysts say the relief rally may be short-lived as investors digest details of the US debt deal and as worries about the brittle global economy persist.

“The key here is the US is raising more debt and cutting spending,” said Barratt at Commodity Broking Services. “This cannot be overall positive for the global economy because you’ve weaned the economy off stimulus packages and now you’re turning around and cutting its legs off.”

Obama said the spending cuts would not happen so quickly that they would drag on the fragile US economy.

Gains in other commodities suggested investors were exercising caution in pushing up prices. London copper futures rose just half a percent to $9,870 a tonne, despite the news of the US debt deal and a strike in the world’s biggest copper mine, Escondida in Chile, stretching to an 11th day on Monday.