|

Copper and Aluminum drop

Base metal prices plunged early Friday, with three-month benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange recently -3.7% at $8,985.50/metric ton and three-month aluminum  -1.4% at $2,422.50/ton, as President Trump’s worse than expected tariffs trigger global growth slowdown fears, sparking a selloff in industrial metals and mining equities.

Copper and aluminum have dropped 8.7% and 7.7%, respectively, so far this week, as the tariffs drag down demand forecasts

Trump hit China with a 34% “reciprocal” tariff on top of existing duties, and China announced Friday that it will likewise impose 34% tariffs on all U.S. goods starting April 10.

“While we remain structurally bullish copper in the long run, weaker global GDP and copper demand growth risk delaying the deficit we expect to see in the market this year,” Goldman Sachs wrote.

Source – Seeking Alpha

Similar Posts

  • /

    Over a week low on Gold

    Gold touched a more than one-week low on Thursday after a U.S. federal court blocked President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal tariffs”, dampening the metal’s safe-haven allure, while a robust dollar further pressured prices of the precious metal.

    Spot gold was down 0.5% at $3,273.37 an ounce, as of 0431 GMT, after hitting its lowest since May 20.

    But the gold market is still bullish as “longer term outlook suggests a weaker dollar and there’s still likely to be some inflationary pressures near term,” Frappell said.

    Spot silver rose 0.6% to $33.19 an ounce, platinum was up 0.6% to $1,080.90 and palladium edged 1.3% higher to $974.69.

    Source – Reuters

  • /

    Copper in a slump

    London Metal Exchange (LME) three-month copper slumped to a 17-month low of $8,105 per metric ton on April 7 after China responded to U.S. tariffs in kind.

    Citi, which now expects copper to hit $8,000 per ton over the next three months, warns that commodity markets are still not pricing the full potential impact on demand.

    Copper as a macro play cannot but reflect the broader market concerns about the negative impact of an escalating trade war between the United States and China on the world economy.

    But at a micro level, the specific threat of U.S. tariffs on the metal is pulling normal trade patterns out of shape and causing both LME and Shanghai exchange inventories to fall.

    Source – Reuters

  • /

    Resolute Mining generating cash despite Mali limbo

    The Mali situation will rumble on for some time: the company has already paid the country $160mn, agreed while Holohan was still detained, but will only have its longer-term future confirmed once signed on to the 2023 mining code. Berenberg analysts have slashed their cash profit forecasts for 2025 and 2026 by 34 and 39 per cent, respectively, taking them to $261mn and $219mn. 

    Source – Investors Chronicle

  • /

    Spot gold down 1.3%

    Spot gold was 1.3% down at $2,840.25 an ounce by 10:42 a.m. ET (1542 GMT). Bullion has so far lost 3.2% for the week, its steepest weekly fall since November.

    “I think the main element impacting the gold and silver markets is the profit-taking in week-long liquidation (and) the strong U.S. dollar index,” said Jim Wyckoff, a senior market analyst at Kitco Metals.

    Spot silver fell 0.9% to $30.97, platinum lost 1.1% to $938.50 and palladium slipped 1.5% to $906. All three metals’ prices looked set for monthly declines.

    Source – Reuters

  • /

    Zambia allows geologists to explore copper deposits

    India has dispatched a team of geologists to Zambia to explore copper and cobalt deposits, two Indian government sources said, as New Delhi steps up efforts to secure critical mineral supplies essential to its energy transition.

    The Zambian government this year agreed to allocate 9,000 square km (3,475 square miles) to India for the exploration of cobalt – a key component in batteries for electric vehicles and mobile phones – as well as for scouting copper, which is widely used in power generation, electronics, and construction.

    The exploration project will last for three years and most of the analysis will be done in laboratories in India, one of the sources said.

    Source – Reuters