Edward Meir Market Quotations

It remains to be seen whether this latest really will be upstaged by this week's EIA inventory reports. We think not; the markets are grappling with three simultaneous geopolitical hotspots right now, increasing the odds that at least one -- if not all three -- of these situations will override the potentially bearish consequence of an inventory increase.

As long as the prospect of sanctioning 4 million barrels per day of Iranian oil is out there, the Iranian situation, in our view, will be the front and center issue that will command market attention.

New money may not enter the markets with the same vigor as has been the case in the past, especially if growth in the U.S. shows signs of slowing on the back of steadily rising interest rates.

The Nigerian news would typically not get much of a market hearing given the modest amounts usually involved and the relatively short-lived nature of disruptions. However, given the potential crisis with Iran, markets are moving higher on just about any news that entails a possible supply pinch.

While fundamentals are tight in several of the metals, they cannot justify current valuations. Markets are, instead, held hostage by the growing amount of investment and speculative money out there that is increasingly finding its way into commodities.

We maintain our general view that these markets have to be given some respect given the fact that we still have sizeable outages going into Q4.

The Iranian situation remains on top of the heap in terms of market concerns.

The prolonged drama probably explains why markets have not done much of anything in response to the news. Participants have perhaps concluded that things will take a lot longer to come to a head -- if they do at all.

I am not sure where the bottom of this market is, but $4,650-a-tonne is very important. If that is broken, lots of selling orders will be triggered.