Gas Market Update

April natural gas NGJ15, -1.54%  settled at $2.734 per million British thermal units, down 9 cents, or 3.2%.

Gasoline Market Update

April gasoline RBJ5, -0.69% fell 1.7 cents, or 0.9%, to $1.81 a gallon, while April heating oil HOJ5, -0.24%  settled at $1.779 a gallon, down 4.1 cents, or 2.3%.

Silver Market Update

May silver SIK5, +0.38% settled at $15.516 an ounce, up 15 cents, or 1%.

May copper HGK5, +0.28%  rose 5.3 cents, or 2%, to end at $2.659 a pound.

April platinum PLJ5, +0.39%  shed 50 cents to $1,114.90 an ounce, 

June palladium PAM5, +1.21% fell back by $2.45, or 0.3%, to $786.95 an ounce.

Oil settles at a six-week low near $47 a barrel

Oil futures settled near $47 a barrel on Thursday, with West Texas Intermediate prices marking their lowest settlement since late January following a ninth straight weekly increase in U.S. supplies.

Crude for delivery in April CLJ5, +0.17%  settled at $47.05 a barrel, down $1.12, or 2.3%, on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices haven’t settled this low since Jan. 29, based on the most-active contracts.

April Brent crude LCOJ5, +0.30%  on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell 46 cents, or 0.8%, to $57.08 a barrel after finding support earlier from ongoing violence by Islamic State militants in Iraq.

Why copper can’t reclaim its role as leading indicator

Copper started losing its Ph.D. in U.S. economics and equities two years ago.

But the metal has lost more of its expertise over the last two years. Futures prices for copper HGK5, +0.60%  dropped of 17% in 2014 and lost 7% in 2013.