Good (Global) News Around Covid and The Commodities Setup

From BCA Research's latest commentary on Covid and the overall commodities setup:

"This week, the UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported ~ 95% of England's population tested positive for antibodies to COVID-19 via infection or vaccination in the week beginning 29 November 2021. Similar results were reported for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This is generally observed in all age cohorts tracked by ONS.

According to David Heymann of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, "population immunity seems to be keeping the virus and its variants at bay, not causing serious illness or death in countries where population immunity is high."

In a briefing hosted by Chatham House this week, Heymann observed, “And probably, in the UK, it’s the closest to any country of being out of the pandemic if it isn’t already out of the pandemic and having the disease as endemic as the other four coronaviruses” currently in circulation, which are responsible for roughly a quarter of common colds.

Based on UK government data, the ratios of hospitalizations and deaths to COVID-19 cases has been falling precipitously. This is encouraging, given the sharp increase in cases driven by the rapid spread of the omicron mutant, which appears to be rolling over. Medical experts in the UK suggest the data also point to a possible peaking in the omicron surge. This would lighten the load on hospitals, as well as reduce death rates attributed to the coronavirus."

Which has them presently bullish on commodities:

"Nothing will return commodity markets to economic normalcy faster than endemicity. If this stays on track over the next month or so, it will spur commodity demand sooner rather than later, as pent-up consumer demand for goods and services is discounted by trading markets. If, as the data appear to indicate, the UK's transition from pandemic to endemic COVID-19 is followed by other states like the US and EU a few months later, we would expect a renewed leg up in the post-pandemic commodities rally. This would be apparent in futures contracts, which already are pricing commodity deliveries a month or more hence."

We remain long-term bullish on commodities... The short-term is anybody's guess...

While the latest trends (in terms of severity) around Covid are encouraging, please still be safe out there