Commodities Roundup: Gold & Oil Leads (USO, UNG, SLV,GLD, GG, AUY, KGC, HL, PAAS, FCX, XOM, MRO)

Commodities Roundup: Gold & Oil Leads (USO, UNG, SLV,GLD, GG, AUY, KGC, HL, PAAS, FCX, XOM, MRO)

Crude oil jumped quickly on Friday after Reuters reported that Oil exports from Iran appear to have fallen in March by around 300,000 barrels per day, or 14%. May crude climbed $1.68 or 1.60% to $107.02 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after hitting session high about $109 a barrel. Crude oil had been trading higher over the past few months on concerns that Iran may block exports to the European nations, which sparked fears that the prices of crude oil could jump sharply. Yesterday, Crude oil ended lower by over 15 after HSBC’s preliminary manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index for China fell to 48.1 in March, down from a 49.6 reading in February, indicating that Chinese factory activity is contracting at a faster pace than before.

Also, supporting the commodities is the weak dollar, where the ICE dollar fell to 79.29 from 79.654 late Wednesday.
In the metal space, Gold for April delivery bounced back $21.60 or 1.32% to $1364 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Among other metals early Thursday, May silver rose 73 cents, or 2.3%, to $32.10 per ounce. Copper for the same month climbed 5 cents, or 1.41%, to $3.82 a pound. April platinum surged $21.30, or 1.4%, to $1,633.40 an ounce. The June contract for sister metal palladium lost $10.95, or 1.68%, to $662 an ounce.

United States Oil Fund LP (ETF)(NYSEARCA:USO) added 0.69 (1.72%) to $40.82, United States Natural Gas Fund, LP(NYSEARCA:UNG) added 0.31 (1.74%)to $18.14. SPDR Gold Trust (ETF)(NYSEARCA:GLD) is up 2.09 (1.31%) to $161.63, iShares Silver Trust (ETF)(NYSEARCA:SLV) rose 0.61 (2.00%) to $31.15.
Goldcorp Inc. (USA)(NYSE:GG) was up 1.11 (2.53%) at $44.93, Kinross Gold Corporation (USA)(NYSE:KGC) surged 1.71% to $10.11 and Yamana Gold Inc. (USA)(NYSE:AUY) climbed over 4% to $16.
Hecla Mining Company(NYSE:HL) increased 4.27%, Pan American Silver Corp. (USA)(NASDAQ:PAAS) jumped 3.11%.
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.(NYSE:FCX) was up over 1.30% to $38.89.
Among the oil stocks, Exxon Mobil Corporation(NYSE:XOM) rose 0.63% and Marathon Oil Corporation(NYSE:MRO) added about 1%