LIVE FUTURES REPORT 11/10: Comex copper price extends rally on Chinese market activity

Comex copper prices saw extended buying in the morning of Wednesday October 11 in the USA with Chinese investors providing a boost for the complex.

Copper for December settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 2.25 cents or 0.7% to $3.0830 per lb.

Since Chinese investors returned from the Golden Week holiday on Monday, prices for the red metal have experienced a big boost. However, many will likely await the decisions of the Communist Party Congress meeting next week in Beijing on infrastructure spending, stimulus plans and so on.

“We remain bullish for copper’s fundamentals but prices started to look overstretched when they approached $7,000 per tonne,” Metal Bulletin senior analyst William Adams said. “They have since corrected on some profit-taking, but the dip has been well supported.”

On the global scale, the IMF raised its global growth forecast by 0.1 percentage points from its April and July outlooks to 3.6% in 2017 and to 3.7% for 2018, driven by a pick-up in trade, investment and consumer confidence.

Meanwhile, the IMF increased its 2017 China and US forecasts to 6.8% (from 6.7%) and 2.2% (from 2.1%), respectively, according to ANZ Research.

In the precious metals space, Comex gold for December delivery dipped $1.50 or 0.1% to $1,292.30 per oz.

Currency moves and data releases 

  • The dollar index was down 0.29% to 92.99. 
  • In other commodities, the Texas light sweet crude oil spot price was up 0.14% to $50.99 per barrel. 
  • In equities, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 0.01%. 
  • In data today, we have August job openings from the USA and the FOMC’s September meeting minutes due, the latter of which will be closely eyed by markets for any language hinting towards a US rate increase in December. 
  • In addition, FOMC member Robert Kaplan is speaking.

What to read next
Fastmarkets proposes to amend the frequency of the publication of several US base metal price assessments to a monthly basis, including MB-PB-0006 lead 99.97% ingot premium, ddp Midwest US; MB-SN-0036 tin 99.85% premium, in-whs Baltimore; MB-SN-0011 tin 99.85% premium, ddp Midwest US; MB-NI-0240 nickel 4x4 cathode premium, delivered Midwest US and MB-NI-0241 nickel briquette premium, delivered Midwest US.
The news that President-elect Donald Trump is considering additional tariffs on goods from China as well as on all products from US trading partners Canada and Mexico has spurred alarm in the US aluminium market at a time that is usually known to be calm.
Unlike most other commodities, cobalt is primarily a by-product – with 60% derived from copper and 38% from nickel – so how will changes in those markets change the picture for cobalt in the coming months following a year of price weakness and oversupply in 2024?
Copper recycling will become increasingly critical as the world transitions to cleaner energy systems, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a special report published early this week.
Fastmarkets proposes to lower the frequency of its assessments for MB-AL-0389 aluminium low-carbon differential P1020A, US Midwest and MB-AL-0390 aluminium low-carbon differential value-added product US Midwest. Fastmarkets also proposes to extend the timing window of these same assessments to include any transaction data concluded within up to 18 months.
Fastmarkets invited feedback from the industry on its non-ferrous and industrial minerals methodologies, via an open consultation process between October 8 and November 6, 2024. This consultation was done as part of our published annual methodology review process.