Two of the world’s best-known miners are cutting thousands of jobs, as a decade-long supercycle of booming demand for commodities turns sour for natural resources companies and their investors.
At the end of a dismal week on commodities markets that wiped billions off market capitalisations in the resources sector, Anglo American, one of the world's largest mining groups, said it would cut up to 6,000 jobs. Lonmin also said it would cut 6,000 jobs in South Africa.
Gold had its sharpest one-day fall for two years this week, and dropped below $1,100 a troy ounce for the first time since 2010. Copper, a bellwether metal for industrial demand, dropped to a six-year low near $5,200 a tonne.
US oil prices traded below $50 a barrel – less than half the level of a year ago – and re-entered bear market territory, while the Bloomberg commodity index, which tracks a basket of 22 raw materials, was on course for its lowest close in six years. A strengthening US dollar has weighed on markets from energy to metals and grain.
– (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2015)
