Interesting to look at commodities...
Oil down slightly (expectations for continued recession...)
Gold steady
BUT, copper, after months of rambling and slight up trend, now tumbling... -16 cents
Oil down slightly (expectations for continued recession...)
Gold steady
BUT, copper, after months of rambling and slight up trend, now tumbling... -16 cents
Yeah, copper is a critical commodity if you think you are in a recovering market. Noticed both FCX and VALE are both down 5%, so there is no currency angle to it, just nobody wants copper all of a sudden. Given the Greek thingy and strengthing dollar you would expect VALE to be down more than FCX. Strange.
In other words, the traders don't think there is going to be great demand for copper pipe in the immediate future.
Or is there another big use of copper I'm not thinking of?
More than likely that price change was based on currency fluctuations - increasing dollar strength typically results in lower oil prices.
As you note - copper is the interesting one to watch. Silver is another. Commodities such as these - which have vastly more industrial uses than gold, are more valuable indicators of industrial activity, though I think they are a bit slower to respond to global demand than what can or should occur from a Greek debt downgrade (non-professional opinion). And as always - the variation in dollar strength has to be factored in...
My guess - today's news Greece, Portugal, congress looking for more blood money, etc., were just an excuse for profit taking after months of low volume trade driving prices up more quickly than appropriate. None of the news today should have been unexpected.
There is always money to be made...