Copper futures brush 3-week low as traders cut energy demand bets
Copper futures have pared losses and now sit roughly unchanged on the day at $4.25.
Source – Market Watch
Copper futures have pared losses and now sit roughly unchanged on the day at $4.25.
Source – Market Watch
Phoenix-based Freeport also boosted its budget for the year by roughly 5% to $4.4 billion and forecast an increase for next year as well, surprising investors.
On an adjusted basis, the company earned 31 cents per share in the quarter, compared with the analysts’ average estimate of 20 cents per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Source – Reuters
Bullion traded around $3,020 an ounce, less than $40 shy of the record high reached last week. Gold-backed ETFs have added about 154 tons so far this year, according to data.
Spot gold rose 0.3% to $3,021.31 an ounce as of 11:18 a.m. in New York, snapping three days of losses. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%. Silver, platinum and palladium all advanced.
Source – Bloomberg
Gold prices climbed on Thursday due to escalating concerns about U.S. President Donald Trump’s impending tariff plans, which could further strain global trade relations.
Spot gold added 0.3% to $2,913.40 per ounce as of 11:58 a.m. ET (1658 GMT), moving back towards its record peak of $2,942.70 hit on Tuesday. U.S. gold futures firmed 0.4% to $2,941.40.
“The major factor is political uncertainty and the economic consequences … the PPI was pretty much neutral and it didn’t really have much of an effect on gold, investors around the world are worried about what the Trump policies will do to the overall economy,” said Jeffrey Christian, managing partner of CPM Group.
Spot silver fell 0.3% to $32.13 per ounce. Platinum was down 0.2% to $990.15 and palladium was up 1.6% to $989.50.
Source – Reuters
Unusually large shipments of copper to the United States are unlikely to abate as long as the threat of tariffs hangs over the market and price premiums for the metal on U.S.-based COMEX make deals profitable for traders and producers, analysts said.
COMEX copper hit a record high at $11,633 a metric ton on March 26, creating a premium of more than $1,570 a ton against the benchmark contract on the London Metal Exchange.
“We expect 250,000-300,000 tons of extra copper will be shipped to the U.S. over March-May because of the spread and amid the uncertainties regarding the tariff,” said Sharon Ding, head of China basic materials at UBS Investment Research.
“It’s possible we’ll see more atypical cargos in the second half of May,” Kpler analyst Ben Ayre said. “While the COMEX price continues to run at a premium to the LME there’s a strong incentive to land refined copper in the United States.”
Source – Reuters