3/5  BIS central bankers' speeches  Commodity markets Concerns about the impact of ongoing international trade actions by the United States, and China’s retaliation, can also be seen in commodity markets. One common interpretation of commodity markets is that rising prices signal future global economic strength, and a slump—along the lines of what we are seeing in many commodity markets—signals weakness in demand.
But a nuanced look at certain markets gives a more focused interpretation. Of course, oil is the global economy’s most important commodity and Canada’s largest export. However, movements in the oil market tend to reflect more the impact of unexpected changes in supply or demand than shifts in global economic trends.