Copper price prances to 8,932 USD per tonne thanks to the optimism of the economic recovery in the USA
Copper prices rose on Friday, following equity market gains, bolstered by optimism about the global economic recovery over positive US labor data and its plans to roll out the vaccine faster than expected. covid-19.
Copper for delivery in May was up 2.11% by noon, with futures contracts of $ 4.06 per pound ($ 8,932 per tonne) in the Comex market in New York.
Stock markets rose as the United States completed its 100 million covid-19 vaccines 42 days ahead of schedule and posted declining claims for unemployment benefits.
“Dow futures are up about 130 points… and metals are duly following its lead,” Malcolm Freeman, director of UK brokerage firm Kingdom Futures, told Reuters.
The gradual decline in industrial metal prices, however, continued this week.
“The main news of the week – the blockade of the Suez Canal – has failed to push prices up, likely because the recovered refined metal will largely remain unaffected,” the commodities team said. of Capital Economics in its weekly envelope .
“We had always suspected that the rally in the price of copper could not be justified by the underlying fundamentals and we expect further declines later this year.”
The bull and bear case for the price of copper
Industry opinion is strongly – and evenly – divided between the two camps.
Bears will point out that this year’s price spike occurred during Lunar New Year when Chinese traders were away, indicating that the surge was largely speculative, without much fundamental support, and during the quiet consumer season. in the rest of the world, ” Roskill said .
“The bulls rightly argue that with the restart of their ovens by mainland manufacturers following maintenance shutdowns, demand will increase sharply,”
Chinese industrial production jumped 35% year-on-year in January-February 2021.
“Any significant disruption in supply will quickly create physical shortages that will drive up premiums and cathode prices,” Roskill said.
