Crude oil isn’t the only commodity getting trashed these days. A collapse in copper prices on the London Metal Exchange pushed prices down nearly 9% to their lowest levels since mid-July Wednesday on reports of slowing demand in China and other key markets.
Copper is a key industrial product and consider a proxy for growth. But prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange’s COMEX touched July 2009 lows early Wednesday and in late trading are down 5.5% at $2.50 a pound.
The slide tarnished an array of miners and metals producers. Among them: Freeport-McMoran FCX, down 15% to $17.89; Southern Copper SCCO off 5% to $25.13; Rio Tinto RIO, down 4% to $2.17; BHP Billiton, off 5.3% to $43.01, Vale VALE, down 7% to $7.94 and Glencore GLNCY, down 8% to $7.43. Global X Copper Miners COPX, an ETF focused on the metal, slumped 9.2% to $6.10