Posted on 07/12/2010 8:02:37 AM PDT by blam
Copper On Life Support After Shock Chinese Demand Drop
Vincent Fernando, CFA
Jul. 12, 2010, 3:56 AM
Copper prices (for 3-month delivery) just fell from a 2-week high in London, after a surprise report of falling Chinese copper demand shocked traders.
Bloomberg:
Shipments of copper and products into China fell for a third month in June to 328,231 tons, the customs office said July 10. That’s 17 percent less than May and 31 percent less than a year earlier, according to Bloomberg calculations.
Copper in London had its first quarterly decline since 2008 in the April-to-June period on concerns that the global economic recovery was weakening, widening the premium of Shanghai copper over the LME price.
Dr. copper is so broadly used across the economy, that a sustained demand slow-down could be bad news for other commodities China loves to consume as well.
[snip]
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
This is one of those indicators that MSM reporters and stock pumpers will ignore.
Hmmm. Copper is a critical war material.
Just sayin’...
Well, that ought to cut down on the number of people getting electrocuted on power lines.
I’ll believe this when I see the retail prices for copper pipes and wiring come down.
Not sure what the bottom will be, but this would be a good long term investment when it finally drops out. There will ALWAYS be a demand for copper in manufacturing.
I doubt that wiring and copper pipe inventory move fast enough to see any reflection in fluctuating market prices for copper. What is sitting on the shelf is priced based on the price of copper when it was manufactured.
I work for the local water utility and copper/water meter theft has been a HUGE problem for at least the past 5 years.
We thought we would see thefts go down after the Beijing Olympics but it has continued unabated.
A stock market truism: A bull market has a copper roof.
From another site:
It means that stock market bull markets end when the copper market puts in a major top. When a copper roof lasts several years and copper starts down convincingly, you know you have a whopper of a bear nearby in the stock market. When copper starts down bull markets in stocks have already topped but not in a convincing way. Usually when copper is breaking to the downside stocks are rallying. Specifically, the implication would be currently that count 2 of a major bear market has been completed, and the hugely destructive movement to count 3 has begun. Meanwhile, copper would have minor rallies but its trend would continue down to previous levels. What level is that?
70 cents/lb which would be reached by 2013 or before based upon the rakish, extremely bearish, down sloping neckline in the long term chart. The chart could also be interpreted as a giant diamond reversal pattern. If it’s a diamond, then copper may drop to 50 cents, or lower.
How good is this theory? Mediocre. However, when it works, it really works. You could see why. The previous economic boom drives up raw materials prices, building materials like copper, and the inevitable ensuing bust, drives them down. We have had an economic boom in ROW and it’s reasonable to assume that ROW will have a bust especially since the boom was built on socialism’s state assisted Keynesian artificial demand(putting munnee in peepulz pahkits).
Copper=electronics production. No copper, no chinese made consumer goods, no economic recovery.
And cut down on the number of Darwin Awards for the rocket surgeons who strip live electrical boxes.
Doctor Copper calling for a double dip, or worse.
It's been a huge problem for 40 years. I remember an episode of Sandford and Sons that revolved around Fred buying a load of stolen water pipe that turned out to be stolen from his own house.
Good news for ammo makers. Copper bullet jackets and brass cases (brass is a copper-zinc alloy) will be cheaper to make.
True, big disconnect, 28% of copper supply is used in construction.
Here’s a clever copper theft in Kentucky——>>
Police Investigate Copper Theft
Written by {ga=jkendall}
Monday, 12 July 2010 07:42
Thieves get away with copper from a Jessamine County substation overnight.
It happened at a Blue Grass Energy substation off Harrodsburg Road.
Police say a neighbor heard some noise coming from the area.
When he went to check it out he saw a truck driving away with no headlights on.
He called police. Investigators say it appears the thieves used a backhoe to lift a spool of copper over a fence and into the back of a truck.
A representative for Blue Grass Energy was called in to determine exactly how much was stolen.
Thieves tried to target a different Blue Grass Energy substation back on May 21st but weren’t able to get away with anything that time.
So what are my Obama stash of pennies worth now? ;-)
A lot more than a penny IF they were made of copper.
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