Copper rose to kick off a critical week that includes a Federal Reserve meeting, a swathe of key economic data and the prospect of final details on imminent US tariffs on the industrial metal.
The metal rose with other risk assets after the European Union and the US reached a deal that avoids a more catastrophic rupture between two major economies. The agreement comes ahead of a US-China meeting in Stockholm that’s expected to extend a trade truce for 90 more days.
Further important developments lie ahead this week. The Fed isn’t expect to cut rates at the conclusion of its policy meeting on Wednesday, but its commentary will be scrutinized for clues on what comes next. There’s also a deluge of US data from the latest on economic growth to jobs.
But for copper, the most anticipated development should be the launch of US tariffs, the details of which are still unclear just days ahead of their start date.
President Donald Trump’s administration has said 50% levies on copper imports will start from this Friday, but hasn’t so far confirmed important aspects of the duties. It’s not clear which products will be covered, whether supplies from all nations will be hit equally, or how metal already on its way to US shores will be treated.
Global traders have shipped massive amounts of copper to America to get ahead of tariffs, and Trump’s announcement of an Aug. 1 deadline earlier this month triggered a last-minute scramble. Prices in the US are now much higher than those on the London Metal Exchange, but they don’t fully reflect a 50% universal tariff rate on all exchange-traded copper. The premium now stands at about 31%.
Copper rose 0.4% to $9,804 a ton on the LME as of 9:22 a.m. in London. Aluminum dropped 0.3% while zinc fell 0.7% and nickel was down 0.9%
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