Quick overview

---

Copper surged on a weaker dollar and relatively strong demand, reaching its key threshold of $10,000 per ton on the London Metal Exchange. August saw a 3% increase in the price of wiring metal, which rose by up to 0.3% on Monday to $9,928 per ton.

Typically, commodities priced in US dollars benefit from a weaker dollar, as they become more affordable for non-US consumers.

Copper has held up well since US President Donald Trump refrained from imposing import tariffs on the most traded forms of the metal. The metal last traded above $10,000 in July. Metal is still moving to America, and US copper futures are still trading higher than the London prices that serve as the global standard.

The Bloomberg Dollar Index has weakened as investors wrestle with Trump’s decision to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook, while wagers increase on a US interest rate cut at the upcoming Federal Reserve meeting. Monday saw the dollar decline further after a US court stated many of its international tariffs were unlawful.

This year, China’s activity has been relatively robust, supporting the demand for copper. Zijin Mining Group Co. reports that apparent consumption increased by approximately 10% in the first half of the year in the world’s largest copper market. However, there are signs of a more cautious outlook for the second half.

As we anticipated, “apparent consumption growth of copper and aluminum has slowed in recent months, and broad activity data in China appears to be weakening,” said Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in an August 29 note from analysts..