commodity prices dip

Steel pipes wait to be loaded on to ships at Lianyungang, in eastern China's Jiangsu province [BBC]

What I know about commodities is negligible to non-existent, but the following tale of sagging prices caught my attention as the kind of thing that will come knocking on my own, quite-personal door:

Mining shares have continued to fall in the face of low commodity prices.

Shares in Anglo American, which fell more than 12% on Tuesday, fell another 10% on Wednesday morning in London.

The group announced on Tuesday it would cut some 85,000 of its workforce in a massive restructuring.

Among the major commodities only oil managed to stage a slight recovery, with Brent crude rising above $40 a barrel in Asian trade.

However, most analysts believe that any recovery will be short-lived with the world continuing to face a glut of commodities.