The Daily Prophet: If You're Long Commodities, Our Condolences

It would be an understatement to say it was an ugly day for anything related to commodities. The Bloomberg Commodities Index tumbled 1.82 percent, its biggest drop since November. Energy markets, agriculture-related raw goods such as wheat and cattle, and metals such as copper, nickel and the iron ore used to make steel were all hit hard. Even gold dived. Economists like to say commodities are not the referendum on the global economy they once were, but it’s hard not to notice how closely the recent weakness tracks the drop in the Citi Economic Surprise Index, which measures the data that exceed forecasts relative to those that miss, to its lowest level since the start of the year.