Commodities Under Pressure as Investors Wait on Fed Minutes (USO, UNG, SLV, GLD)

Commodities retreated on Tuesday after posting strong gains in the previous trading session ahead of minutes from March’s FOMC.Crude for May fell 43 cents, or 0.45%, to $104.80 a barrel on the New York Mercantile , after surging about 2.305 in yesterday’s session.The Commerce Department on Tuesday reported that factory orders rose 1.3% in February. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected an increase of 1.5%.

The EIA is scheduled to report its weekly data on inventories early Wednesday, with the American Petroleum Institute trade group slated to report its own data later Tuesday. Analysts are projecting an increase on 1.9 million barrels in crude for the week ended March 30. Gasoline stockpiles are seen down 1.6 million barrels on the week, while supplies of distillates are expected to fall by 600,000 barrels.On Monday, crude gained momentum on reports of stoppage of exports from Iraqi oil exports from the Kurdistan region and an improvement in the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index for March.Among other energy futures Tuesday, gasoline for May delivery added 2 cents, or 0.60%, to $3.40 a gallon, May heating oil fell 1 cent, or 0.1%, to $3.23 a gallon and natural gas for the same month rebounded   4 cents, or 2%, to $2.19 per million British thermal units.

Gold futures for June lost $5 or 0.3%, to $1,675 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Silver for the May contract slipped 10 cents, or 0.3%, to $32.99 an ounce. Silver ended Monday at a three-week high. Copper, which had traded higher, was recently veering between small gains and losses. May copper fell less than a penny, or 0.1%, to $3.92 a pound.

United States Oil Fund LP (ETF)(NYSEARCA:USO) was down 0.24 (-0.60%) at $39.80, United States Natural Gas Fund, LP(NYSEARCA:UNG) surged 0.32 (1.98%) $16.52. SPDR Gold Trust (ETF)(NYSEARCA:GLD) is down 0.32 (1.98%) to $162.37, iShares Silver Trust (ETF)(NYSEARCA:SLV) also slid 0.03 (-0.09%) to $32.02.