Commodities: DoE data sinks energy futures, Fed buoys gold

Commodities were little changed overall on Wednesday, but amid significant volatility underneath the surface.

Indeed, energy futures were sharply lower, led by a drop in gasoline futures after the Department of Energy reported a 5.7m jump in US gasoline stockpiles over the week ending on 8 December.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures also traded lower, erasing 85 cents to close at $56.60 a barrel, as the same DoE data revealed a 73,000 barrel a day increase in domestic US oil output to 9.78m b/d.

Going the other way, boosted by unexpected weakness in the US dollar in the wake of the latest US central bank policy announcement, gold futures on COMEX bounced 0.75% to $1,258/oz..

Soft commodities also found a bid on the back of weakness in the Greenback, with CBoT wheat futures 1.46% higher to $4.1675 a bushel and ICE Cotton #2 1.67% ahead at $0.7463 a pound.

In the background, the US dollar spot index jumped from 93.43 to 94.10, with the Bloomberg commodity index down from 83.47 to 83.42.