I. Precious Metals
Gold
Gold prices fell 0.4 percent to $1,270.40 an ounce on Tuesday, headed for a second-straight monthly decline, as the U.S. dollar was firm for much of the session and precious metals investors turned cautious ahead of central bank meetings this week, U.S. payrolls data and the announcement of the next U.S. Federal Reserve chair.
The Fed started a two-day policy meeting during Tuesday's session with speculation mounting that Trump will pick Fed Governor Jerome Powell as the next head of the U.S. central bank on Thursday. But interest rate hike is unlikely in this meeting.
Powell is seen as more dovish than other contenders for the post, such as Stanford University economist John Taylor. Somebody from within the Fed, even if they’re more dovish, might be less bullish for gold, because they would be seen as being better suited to manage monetary policy.
The Fed is scheduled to release its statement following its meeting on Wednesday at 2 p.m. EDT. Market participants were awaiting the Bank of England policy meeting on Thursday and more data, including U.S. payrolls figures on Friday. Volatility is expected to pick up later this week.

Silver
Silver fell 0.7 percent to $16.71 an ounce, headed for a second-straight monthly decline. On chart, silver slipped for three weeks in a row, approaching the lower end of current trading range at $16.5, a level that saw five bottoms-up in the past one year. On trading strategy, market bulls is expected to cash in high profits by building long positions at lows with support at $15.5.

II. Commodities
Crude Oil
Oil prices settled higher again on Tuesday. Brent settled up 47 cents or 0.7 percent to $61.37, close to its July 2015 highs reached earlier this week, and up around 37 percent from its 2017 lows hit in June. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) settled up 23 cents or 0.4 percent to $54.38, still near its highest since February and close to its highest in more than two years.
For the month, Brent was up 6.7 percent, while WTI rose 5 percent. WTI's discount to Brent has widened to nearly $7, making it attractive to exporters. U.S. crude exports have jumped to close to 2 million barrels per day (bpd) and production has risen almost 13 percent since mid-2016 to 9.5 million bpd.
Iraq has increased exports from its southern oilfields to 3.45 million barrels per day (bpd) to make up for a shortfall from the northern Kirkuk fields. OPEC's adherence to its pledged supply curbs rose to 92 percent from September's 86 percent, a survey showed, as top exporter Saudi Arabia continued to pump below its OPEC target and output in Venezuela declined further.

Copper
Copper fell on Tuesday, further away from the three-year highs above $7,000 a tonne. Copper has still risen more than 5 percent this month, benefiting with other commodities from hopes that rising demand from China and the United States would boost prices. However, it is struggling to maintain early gains.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange closed at $6,839 tonne, down 0.4 percent and less than 1 percent above Friday's two-week low of $6,782.50.
On technical front, LME copper could retest support at $6,787 a tonne after its bounce from this level. The world's biggest copper miner, Codelco, has raised its 2018 physical copper premium to European buyers to $88 a tonne from the $80 to $85 range this year. Copper prices are expected to rise in the long run.

Soybean
U.S. soybean futures fell on Tuesday. The November soybean futures were up 1 cent at $9.73-3/4 a bushel. USDA said 83 percent of the soybean crop has been harvested, close to the five-year average of 84 percent and matching analyst expectations. Soyoil futures firmed, while soymeal futures sagged.
December soymeals were down $0.5 at $311.8 per short tonne. December soyoil ended up 0.07 cent at 34.75 cents per pound. The trading volume of soybean, soymeal and soyoil was expected at 162,880 lots, 87,401 lots and 110,274 lots respectively.

Dealing Room, ICBC Beijing Branch
Lv Yan