High commodity

Nickel trading was suspended this week after prices rose to over $100,000 per tonne – double its previous peak of $50,000. How do other commodity prices compare with their peaks since the 2008 financial crisis?

Previous peak

Silver $43

Brent crude $140

Gold $1,853

Aluminium $3,124

Tin $33,015

This week

Silver $26

Brent crude $139

Gold $2,050

Aluminium $3,849

Tin $50,025

Short squeeze

The extraordinary rise in nickel prices was partly caused by a ‘short squeeze’, where investors try to exploit bets by other traders that prices would decrease. What notable stocks have experienced squeezes – and how much did their prices increase?

Year Rise

1923 Piggly Wiggly +218%

2008 Volkswagen +187%

2020 Tesla +400%

2021 GameStop +2,799%

Euro gasometer

How reliant on Russian gas imports are European countries?

Average proportion of total imports, 2016-20

Finland 99%

Latvia 94%

Bulgaria 90%

Serbia 83%

Estonia 77%

Czech Republic 59%

Greece 58%

Lithuania 56%

Hungary 54%

Slovakia 52%

Poland 50%

Croatia 48%

Germany 47%

Italy 41%

Slovenia 39%

France 24%

Netherlands 13%

Romania 9%

UK 3%

Source: European Union

In the wind

Where did Britain get its energy from last month?

Wind 40%

Gas 22%

Nuclear 14%

Imports 10%

The rest comes from various sources such as biomass, coal, solar, hydro and storage.

Source: National Grid ESO

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