The spread of COVID-19 gathered speed over the past week, sparking a spate of manufacturing shut-downs across Europe and the US. Commodity markets are now pricing in a disruption to the global economy on the scale witnessed in China during the first quarter. In a fresh wave of selling, commodity prices retreated another 5.2% last week as measured by the IHS Markit Materials Price Index (MPI). The MPI is down 18.1% year-to-date and almost 25% from its 2019 high in July. As predicted last week, the lagged effect of crude oil's recent plunge is feeding into chemicals prices, with the MPI's chemical sub-index dropping ... (full story)