Copper slid from the highest level since mid-2022 after a four-day run of gains, with investors weighing mounting threats to ore supply against the risk of delays to US interest-rate cuts.
Concerns about Federal Reserve policy returned to the fore Friday after US jobs data for March surged past estimates, prompting traders to trim bets that the bank will cut rates in June. Copper traded down 0.4% following the release, but remained on course for a 5% weekly jump that’s been driven by risks to supply.
Codelco, the world’s biggest producer, is struggling to bounce back from the lowest output levels in a quarter-century. Meanwhile, Canada’s Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. reported a drop in volumes at its Kamoa-Kakula complex in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and a drought in Zambia is adding to concerns.
“Large deficits” in the second quarter will push the market into backwardation — an indicator of strength — in the second half, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts said in a note Thursday. They reiterated the bank’s bullish call for a 65% price jump by 2025.
The global manufacturing sector is showing tentative signs of recovery, fueling expectations of a tightening market for the metal. Still, China is grappling with a years-long property crisis and sagging consumer confidence. The country’s smelters, which produce more than half the world’s refined copper, are considering output cuts after processing fees fell near zero.
Copper traded at $9,321 a ton as of 2:21 p.m. in London on Friday, as all base metals retreated.
(By Annie Lee and Mark Burton)
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