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.

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