Aluminum futures hit record, oil and wheat prices soar amid Russia-Ukraine war

Yahoo Finance Live's Julie Hyman and Brian Sozzi report on commodity prices for aluminum, oil, and wheat reaching recent highs.

Video transcript

JULIE HYMAN: But first, we do want to get to that price action that we have been watching, in particular, in the commodities. And for that, I want to take you inside the Yahoo Finance Interactive and take a look at the commodity action that we're seeing. Brian, we've been watching this really closely.

And earlier this morning, we saw crude oil prices climbing, WTI going above $115 a barrel. It has since fallen back a little bit. Brent prices, too, having just a huge move upward to nearly 120 before falling back, but plenty of the other commodities here are still in the green, many of them in metals.

Well, gold prices, we have seen gold catch a bid because it's seen as a haven, and it is still continuing to move higher. Aluminum futures just having an incredible move upward as well. You can see a 37% move almost year to date. And the aluminum trading at a record, but really, you're seeing this across the metals and agricultural complex here this morning. The move upward, even if the move has stalled a little bit when it comes to oil prices.

But Brian, it's just remarkable what we are seeing happening here. Russia, by the way, accounting for 12% of the world's total crude exports in 2020. And what we're seeing here is that that oil is just not being bought on international market.

BRIAN SOZZI: Yeah, Julie, this is an alarming rise. And it's not just oil. It's a whole bunch of commodities. And if folks think out there that this market can continue to shake off these alarming rises, they may want to think again because you're already starting to get some cautious commentary from the retail sector. And we'll talk more about that later on. A Target, American Eagle, some of these companies here are putting out some cautious first quarter outlooks in part because of inflation and gas. So it is going to catch up with the market. It's just a matter of when.

But secondarily, you have a lot of banks out there recommending some potentially good trades. Have to highlight a good note out of David Kostin over at Goldman Sachs this morning, looking at potential dividend plays. Kostin is raising his S&P 500 dividend growth target for this year to 10% from 8%. He's locking in on the energy space, Julie, where he sees names like an Exxon and a Chevron among some of the top names in terms of dividend payouts from the energy space.

And some of these energy trades, Julie, are looking like some perfect trades here. You have Chevron and Exxon shares up about 30% each year to date, according to Yahoo Finance Plus data. Plus, you bolt on those dividend payments here. That's quite the potential trade here.

JULIE HYMAN: Yeah, some of them, we're seeing some profit taking this morning. Some of these stocks falling back, as you can see. But to your point, Exxon up 31 and 1/2% year to date. Chevron up 31% year to date. Shell, 5 and 1/2%. ConocoPhillips, 36%. So it has just been, to your point, a huge, huge move upwards. And this is reflected, by the way, in the sector action as well.

Here are the sectors year to date. Energy is the only one in the green, and it's in the green and how. it's up 31%. Also, to your point, when you talk about what's going on with the retailers, consumer discretionary stocks are down. The XLY in your upper left corner there down 12.7%. So obviously, there has been an effect here from what has been going on with the commodity prices. So this is something we need to continue to watch. It does not seem like it is going to be alleviated any time soon, even if we are seeing energy prices pull back a little bit this morning.