Industry Report
April 8, 2016
The Weekly Dig
Haywood Mining Team
Copper Price Plunges on the Back of Near-Record Chinese Stockpiles
§ The rise in the price of copper since the beginning of 2016 took many by surprise given the continued gloomy outlook on economic growth in Europe and China in particular. Beginning the year at $2.13 per pound, the red metal fell to as low as $1.95 per pound on January 15 before rising by 18% in two months to March 18th. This rise in copper during Q1/16 also saw a welcome reprieve for several major diversified and copper-focussed companies that experienced a difficult 2015; BHP Billiton (BHP-ASX), Rio Tinto (RIO-ASX), Freeport McMoRan (FCX-NYSE) and VALE (VALE-NYSE) each rose 20%, 14%, 76% and 45% respectively during the same period. However, after its mid-March high’s, copper then slumped 10%, falling 4% this week alone to finish at $2.09 per pound on Friday. News of record stockpiles in China and the possibility that the world’s leading consumer of copper could ramp-up copper exports appears to have applied downward pressure on the copper price. Meanwhile, zinc and lead prices followed suit, falling 7% and 2.7% respectively to finish at $0.79 and $0.77 per pound. Nickel recovered some of the ground it lost in March (falling 12% in just over three weeks), rising 2.7% this week to finish at $3.86 per pound. Following a disappointing 2016 to date (as reported here last week), uranium prices rebounded, with the UxC Broker Average (BAP) Price of uranium recording 4 consecutive daily-gains before finishing at $28.50 per pound (↑1.8%) on Friday. After last week’s drop, WTI crude prices rose over 7% this week as U.S. output fell sharply and a meeting between suppliers scheduled for April 17 to discuss freezing output draws near. WTI crude finished at $39.58 per barrel on Friday. Finally, gold finished 1.4% higher at $1,242 per ounce.
This report may be distributed in the following states: nil. Otherwise, this report may only be distributed into those states with an institutional buyer state securities registration exemption..
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen