Commodities were poised to end Friday with the biggest monthly and quarterly losses since the financial crisis, with copper down the most as global growth fears caused an investor stampede from the metal.
A monthly rise in lean hog prices and a quarterly gain in gold were but two bright spots in a sector that witnessed unusual price swings over the past two months due to ever-changing signals on the European debt crisis.
The dollar's unexpected rebound against the euro in recent weeks, and talk that even China may no longer be counted on to bump up demand for raw materials while Western economies teeter, completed a perfect storm for commodities.
"We suspect we will see more of the same downward drift and extremely volatile trading in October, as many other serious issues have yet to be resolved," said Edward Meir, an energy and metals analyst in New York for brokerage MF Global.
By midday, the 19-commodity Reuters-Jefferies CRB index, which serves as a global benchmark for commodities, was down 1.6% on the day. For the month, it showed a drop of 12% and for the quarter 11%. The monthly and quarterly losses were the sharpest for the CRB since 2008, when the global financial crisis began.
Benchmark three-month copper futures on the London Metal Exchange were down 3%, trading above $7025 a ton.
By far, copper has been one of the CRB's worst-performing components in 2011, with prices falling by a quarter even on the year, and struggling to keep above $7000 a ton after soaring to record highs over $10000 in February.
US crude oil was down 1.1% on the day, trading at above $81 a barrel. For the month, it was down 9% while for the quarter it showed a 15% drop.
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