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Commodity Market Report: Mixed Performance Amid Weak US Employment Data

Commodity markets saw mixed movements at the end of the week, with sugar and silver futures leading the gainers, benefiting from the economic uncertainty left by recent US data. US non-farm payrolls data came in significantly disappointing, recording a surprise contraction of 23,000 jobs compared to expectations of 80,000 growth, which coincided with a sharp decline in the ADP employment change, which recorded only 44,000. This weak data pressured the dollar and boosted the appeal of precious metals, with silver rising by 3% to 3.5%, while copper faced clear selling pressure due to concerns over slowing industrial demand; despite the positive ISM Manufacturing PMI, which recorded 55.6, the overall growth outlook remains cautious. In the energy sector, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) report showed an unexpected increase in crude oil inventories of 2.479 million barrels, defying expectations that pointed to a draw in inventories, which puts additional pressure on crude prices that were also affected by the negative American Petroleum Institute (API) data. As for the agricultural commodities sector, sugar saw a strong jump of 5.65%, while orange juice and soybeans declined noticeably. On the supply side, a new threat is emerging in the form of an escalating strike by BHP workers at the Australian Port Hedland, which directly threatens global iron ore supplies. Investors are now monitoring the extent to which this conflicting economic data, especially with the unemployment rate stabilizing at 4.1%, will impact market trends in the coming week.