- Zinc and lead prices have been on a slide since early December despite strengthening economic news in the first months of 2010. The eurozone’s travails have now sent both metals into a tailspin down to levels at which most producers are scarcely breaking even.
- Mercifully Lead and Zinc have started to trend up again after a flirtation with the 71 ct per lb level which would have implied mine shutdowns if it had lasted.
- The scare has again claimed hedge funds as victims as they wandered into the commodity minefields without really knowing what they were doing. Each of these setbacks whittles down the number of hedge funds foolish enough to play these games.
- The pain of this downfall has, curiously enough, been mitigated the most for European producers who found their terms of trade on the production side less damaged than those miners in countries with a closer relationship to the US Dollar, while European smelters/refiners and end-users found that they had suddenly become more competitive.
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