Barclays Capital Commodity Quotations

While we think such high prices are not justifiable by gold 's commodity fundamentals in terms of market balance and inventory levels, the combination of a surge in oil prices above $70/barrel, geopolitical tensions and strong momentum is dominating at present, and further gains cannot be ruled out.

After the very strong pickup in U.S. growth data over the past few weeks, we believe the risk of a sharp slowdown in commodity demand looks negligible in the short term.

After the very strong pick-up in U.S. growth data over the past few weeks, we believe the risk of a sharp slowdown in commodity demand looks negligible in the short term.

The continued strong performance of commodity investments, allied to the desire of many institutional investors to diversify their equity and fixed income exposures, suggests that commodity investments are likely to continue growing strongly in 2006.