Commodities have continued to see shifts in leadership through 2026 as industrial metals overtook energy for the top spot within the NDW DALI Commodity rankings to close out the month of May.
Commodities have continued to see shifts in leadership through 2026. After beginning the year with precious metals carrying the leadership baton, industrial metals spent a brief period as the top commodity in February before energy raced out to take the top spot in early March. While the energy space continues to garner the headlines, industrial metals overtook energy for the top spot within the NDW DALI Commodity rankings to close out the month of May. Though the focus is often on leadership and participation in those trends, monitoring action within laggard areas is equally as important for portfolio allocation.
The major industrial commodity, copper, has been the primary driver in the sub-asset’s recent ascension. Back in early May, an article in Daily Equity Report noted the relative gain the United States Copper Index Fund (CPER) against the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD). Since then, CPER gave a second buy signal and flipped the trend back to positive on the default point and figure trend chart as the fund rallied to a new chart high at $40.50 by mid-May. The push to highs and maintaining near those highs to cap off May led to CPER showing positive long-term relative strength against the likes of oil representative Invesco DB Oil Fund (DBO). After matching the chart high early last week to kick off June, Friday’s (6/5) trading brought the trend chart back into Os, towards the middle of the 10-week trading, and actionable territory.
As mentioned, maintaining exposure to leadership like copper within a commodity’s sleeve and understanding the implications of long-term strength from the industrial metals space can help guide a portfolio elsewhere in other assets. Additionally, understanding weakness within laggard areas can have similar effects. While inflation protection, among other factors, saw the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) push higher the past two years, action in 2026 has seen the commodity consolidate. After a brief rally in the latter part of March and early April saw a couple buy signals given on the trend chart, GLD returned to a sell signal in mid-April before giving additional sell signals. Friday’s (6/5) trading culminated in GLD giving a third sell signal as the fund tested long-term support at $400 before seeing intraday action Tuesday violate that support GLD fell to $390 on the chart. Support can be found in the $365 and $370 range before getting down to support in the lower $300 range. While a tactical portfolio may be avoiding or underweighting precious metals portfolio, continued weakness from the space – like continued strength from industrial metals – can have notable implications on potential portfolio allocations in other assets.
