EUROPEAN COMMODITIES UPDATE: Crude holds an upward bias amid geopolitics; spot gold steady ahead of the Fed

Crude Oil: WTI Oct +0.5% Brent Nov +0.4%

• Modestly firmer against the backdrop of a softer USD and following recent comments by US President Trump that he is willing to impose sanctions on Russia, but noted that Europe has to toughen sanctions and should stop purchasing oil from Russia.
• Aside from that, newsflow has been quiet this morning in terms of energy specifics.
• Continued and renewed focus on the drone situation in eastern Europe, after a Russian drone entered Romania’s airspace on Sunday.
• WTI currently resides in a USD 62.52-63.24/bbl range while Brent sits in a USD 66.78-67.52/bbl range.

Precious Metals: Gold U/C, Silver U/C, Palladium +0.7%

• Spot gold is flat despite a softer dollar ahead of this week's central bank meetings and with the spotlight on Wednesday's FOMC.
• Spot gold currently resides in a USD 3,626.46-,3646.95/oz range at the time of writing, with Friday's high at USD 3,656.70/oz and the ATH at USD 3,674.69/oz.

Base Metals: 3M LME Copper U/C

• Base metals trade mixed with the upside contained as participants digested the latest Chinese activity data, which fell short of expectations.
• China’s economy showed signs of slowing in August, with weaker retail sales, industrial production, and investment, rising unemployment, and a struggling housing market. Slowing export growth and persistent deflation added pressure on Beijing to introduce near-term stimulus measures, according to data from the NBS. Chinese Industrial Output 5.2% Y/Y in August (exp. 5.7%, prev. 5.7%); retail sales 3.4% Y/Y (exp. 3.9%, prev. 3.7%); house prices -2.5% Y/Y (Prev. -2.8%).
• 3M LME copper holds above USD 10k/t and resides in a USD 10,053.97-10,102.00/t range at the time of writing.