Posted on 04/26/2021 9:51:36 AM PDT by blam
Copper futures hit their highest levels in ten years on Monday as several factors, including supply concerns, a weaker dollar, the Biden administration's plan to improve infrastructure, growth in renewable energy, and China's increasing demand, continue to fuel expectations of higher demand for the industrial metal.
The dollar continues to edge lower Monday amid speculation Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will not announce tapering at this week's meeting, fueling higher copper prices.
Meanwhile, traders are concerned about supply due to a strike in Chile.
"We are in for a good run higher as we are having supply issues. Chilean port workers threatening to strike, which is a short-term issue, but will cause some trouble for shipments into China in an already tight concentrate market," commodities broker Anna Stablum of Marex Spectron told Reuters.
"We are seeing some concerns about supply cuts in China due to environmental pressures," Stablum added.
The resilience of copper prices suggests industrial use for copper in China continues.
The push for a massive infrastructure overhaul in the US has provided support for copper. The Biden administration proposed infrastructure investments of hundreds of billions of dollars to fuel growth in renewable energy.
When it comes to renewable energy, copper plays a huge role in renewable energy technology, given its conductivity characteristics.(Electric cars use 7 times more copper than gasoline cars)
On top of renewables, a shift towards a digital economy and rising demand for electronics to support the remote work lifestyle adds additional support to copper prices.
"Technology, semiconductors, data centers, and cellular towers all require significant copper usage," Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at US Bank Wealth Management, told MarketWatch.
Meanwhile, "we have not seen an investment in new copper supply over the past few years, which means users have been competing
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(Excerpt) Read more at talkmarkets.com ...
Nothing wrong with using sawmill timber to build a house except the building industry convinced the Building Code Council to recommend only graded and stamped lumber be used.
Municipalities adopt their building codes from the BCC and now a majority of counties require graded/stamped lumber for structural components.
Damn the bastards.
Years ago my kids bought a gadget that sorts the old copper pennies from the zinc ones and filled two 5 gallon buckets. The price crashed to around $2 and they’ve been sitting on it ever since.
Will scrap yards pay for copper pennies or would a coin dealer hopefully pay?
I have no idea.
I have heard of Nickle saving because a US Nickle is supposedly worth more than five cents.
Cat thieves are a big problem in my area too. They especially like high clearance vehicles, it’s easy to crawl under a cut it out.
A few weeks ago, I think down in orange county, a cat thief was discovered under a car, crushed. The car had fallen off the jack and killed him
No restrictions, no codes where I live. First County we ended up in, in MO, didn’t even have 911 service.
They’re stealing cats?
“the price of plywood going off the rails”
You ain’t kidding. At Home Depot recently a 3/4” sheet was double from a year ago. $78!!!
How much copper is in a nickel?
Checked prices on 2X4X8 PT at Lowe’s $10 a stick.
I don’t see any color bands identifying that resistor.
0 ohms!
Catalytic converters. Although there is a mentally ill lady here who traps neighborhood cat, feral or domesticated.
Thanks.
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