On commodities, the CRB Commodity Index fell below 300, dropping further from a five-month high of about 310 points on April 18th. Investors are increasingly worried about the demand-destructive nature of a global recession, while prospects of further interest rate hikes in the US and Europe and an uneven economic recovery in China have also clouded the outlook. Agricultural commodities are below their February peak due to ample supplies. Crude oil prices are now trading below USD 79 per barrel, down from their multi-month high of about USD 83 in early April, and copper, a barometer for the world’s economy, dropped back under USD 4 per pound in the industrial sector.