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
Citi anticipates an eventual implementation of a 25% copper-specific tariff by the fourth quarter of 2025, following U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order initiating an investigation into U.S. copper imports, the bank said in a note on Wednesday.
Source – Reuters
Copper’s rise is being driven “solely by supply concerns surrounding the potential for universal tariffs to be placed on all imports of copper into the U.S.,” said Natalie Scott-Gray, a senior metals demand analyst at StoneX. The U.S. is “heavily reliant on foreign copper, with imports accounting for [around] 45% of demand.”
Copper prices have climbed more than 23% in 2025 through Monday, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
Source – Market Watch
“Until we see clarity on the US policies, both trade-related and economic, it will create an environment for increased levels of gold volatility,” said Joseph Cavatoni, senior market strategist for North America at industry lobby the World Gold Council. “So, while we might see a $3,000 gold price, we expect there could be ongoing movements that bring us back below.”
Spot gold was down 0.1% at $2,905.73 an ounce at 10:28 a.m. in London, after rising to as high as $2,942.68. Silver, platinum and palladium were all lower. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was steady after climbing on Monday.
Source – Bloomberg
Freeport McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) trades little changed Thursday as Jefferies upgrades shares to Buy from Hold with a $48 price target, raised from $40, just one month after downgrading due to risks in Indonesia, a cautious view on copper, and the company’s near-term lack of free cash flow.
If tariffs are implemented, Comex copper price premiums to the LME, which have been high already because of potential tariffs, likely will rise further, Jefferies analyst Christopher LaFemina says, noting Freeport (FCX) sells 1.35B lbs/year of copper at Comex prices and the current Comex premium to LME is ~$0.30/lb, and tariff-impacted imports would effectively set the Comex price since the U.S. cannot be self-sufficient in copper.
Source – Seeking Alpha
Jefferies – Jefferies Financial Group Inc. is an American multinational independent investment bank and financial services company headquartered in New York City.
A California man was sentenced to 6½ years in prison Tuesday for his role in ongoing “government impostor” gold-bar scams that are costing Americans millions every year.
“This is a national epidemic,” prosecutor Hannah Gleason said in a courtroom in Montgomery County, Maryland, which has been hit hard by the complex frauds. “These are highly organized criminal organizations.”
The case at hand cost a 64-year-old woman, living in Montgomery’s Leisure World community, $789,000. She had counted on the savings to fund the medical needs of herself and other family members and now fears she may lose her home, Gleason said.
“She worries about her financial security and financial health,” Gleason said. “This has caused great emotional distress and impact to her, and has led her to believe she can’t trust people.”
Source – The Washington Post
Please be careful out there everyone. People are getting scammed everyday and our older community are the targets…usually. It’s really unfortunate for this lady who knows how many others have had this happen to them too. Be safe! – V.
“Any country with gold reserves should be holding at least 11% of that amount in bitcoin reserves,” Armstrong posted to X in response to criticism of Trump’s plan for a national bitcoin reserve. “And I believe in the next five to 10 years bitcoin’s market cap will likely surpass gold. So these reserves should grow to exceed gold.”
“We’re gonna do something great with crypto because we don’t want China, or anybody else … but others are embracing it, and we want to be ahead,” Trump told CNBC.
Source – Forbes
The stock climbed 12% on Friday, its steepest one-day gain in nearly two months, outperforming the benchmark Kospi index’s 0.85% rise.
The extraordinary shareholders’ meeting had initially been called by private-equity firm MBK Partners and Korea Zinc’s major shareholder Young Poong, which have teamed up and increased their combined stake to more than 40% since September for control of the smelter, to reshape its board and management led by Chairman Yun B. Choi.
Source – The Wall Street Journal