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05.30.2012 16:08 Hot Copper Shorts Burning Commodity Firms As prices soar, Jiangxi and others say they've been forced to cover short positions by exporting (Beijing)–China has long been the world's largest consumer and a net importer of copper, which makes exporting large quantities of the metal seem counterintuitive. Yet Jiangxi Copper International Trading Co. Ltd. announced in May that it would join hands with other domestic traders and smelters and begin exporting refined copper, shipping it to transaction warehouses designated by the London Metal Exchange (LME). The firm, a subsidiary of China's largest copper producer Jiangxi Copper Corp., said it...

Gary Shilling: 2 Things Make Copper A More Reliable Economic Indicator Than Oil Sam Ro May 26, 2012There are two commodities that are watched particularly closely for their abilities to predict the direction of the global economy: copper and oil. Economist Gary Shilling is bearish on both. Shilling recently invited Business Insider to his home where he explained to us, among other things, why copper is a more reliable economic indicator than oil. In this segment, he explains. He also explains why he thinks China's economy is headed toward a hard landing.(Click to the site to see a video by...

We'd Like To Introduce You To Dr. Aluminum Sam Ro April 19, 2012, 8:21 PM Copper was given the nickname "Dr. Copper" because the industrial metal supposedly has a Ph.D in economics. Why? Because copper is widely recognized as a good indicator of economic health. However, copper might not be the smartest metal out there. According to this chart published in Citi's massive 110-page Q2 Commodity Update report, aluminum is much more vulnerable to the economy.

We sat down with Mickey Fulp and while there’s not a lot to be happy about, many markets have been going up since the first of the year. And as the old Wall Street Maxim says, So goes January, So goes the Year. And you have to take your profits while you can get them. But of course you always need to have a core holding of gold and silver. The rest is extra money that you’ve hopefully been able to grow during the course of a very tough couple of years. There’s absolutely no indication that anything has fundamentally...

Mickey Fulp, the Mercenary Geologist, joins us for a review of how different markets performed during the month of January 2012. If the old saw, "As January goes, so goes the year," holds true, then 2012 could be one for the record books. Platinum was up 20 percent, Gold 10 percent, and Silver 18 percent. These are huge numbers that could be an indication of things to come or might prove to be a false indicator. The big loser for the month was natural gas down 20 percent! Warm winters in the Northeast, supply gluts, and new technology have made...

BART revealed Tuesday that copper thieves are bedeviling the system in more ways than stripping cable from its tracks. A project intended to speed trains in Contra Costa County, which was supposed to be done by now, was delayed 10 months after crooks stole hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of metal. "BART is a public system," said Robert Raburn, a member of BART's Board of Directors. "This is a theft from the taxpayer."

If Laws Change, 'Penny Hoarders' Could Cash In On Thousands Of Dollars By NEAL KARLINSKY and MARY-ROSE ABRAHAM ABC News – Fri, Dec 2, 2011If Laws Change, 'Penny Hoarders' Could Cash in on Thousands of Dollars (ABC News … Joe Henry is on a first name basis with bank tellers across his hometown of Medford, Ore., scouring 15 banks a week with one thing on his mind: pennies. Henry is often seen toting around bags of pennies, some he buys, others he changes back in for cash, which seems a little strange at first. He's not a collector, he is...

Hot and heavy little Mercury is warming up to NASA's MESSENGER probe and revealing its true planetary colors -- in enhanced-color images. Among the spacecraft's finds are bizarre landforms (shown here in blue) tucked inside impact craters on the planet's surface. David Blewett of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and his colleagues report these puzzling scarlike hollows in the Sept. 30 Science, which features seven papers describing the compact world. The pits resemble sunken Swiss cheese holes -- smooth, rimless depressions that vary in size between several meters and a few kilometers across. Irregularly shaped, the clustered hollows...

Thieves have snatched a copper sword from the burial site of president Abraham Lincoln, one of the most revered leaders in US history, local media reported. The roughly three-foot (90-centimeter) sword was brandished by the statue of a Civil War artillery officer at the Lincoln Tomb State Historic Site, located in Springfield, Illinois. The sword was broken off at the handle, The State Journal-Register reported Friday. The theft was apparently the first since 1890, when the same sword was stolen from the statue, the newspaper said. At that time, the sword was made of bronze that largely came from melted-down...

Copper Tumbles 6% Eric Platt Oct. 20, 2011, 2:07 PM Copper, after tumbling 4% yesterday, plummeted again on the COMEX today. It's down 6% to $3.07 per pound. Take a look: Image: FinViz Precious metals are also taking a beating: * December gold contracts: Down 2.0% to $1,614 an ounce * December silver contracts: Down 2.8% to $30.36 an ounce * January platinum contracts: Down 2.1% to $1,491 an ounce * Southern Copper Corp. is trading 1.5% lower today. (snip)

"Dr Copper" Says Recession Is Around The Corner.... But May Only Be Half Right. by Vikas Ranjan Oct 19, 2011 07:28:31 AM In my last blog entry on October 7th, I argued that that the bull phase in copper is far from over. The most recent drop in the price of copper is suggesting softness in demand but this could only be a temporary phenomenon. Apart from a keen interest in copper’s own investment prospects, market watchers also look at copper for guidance on the direction of the economy. As I mentioned in my previous article, since copper is...

Two people are in custody after a strange string of events led to their arrest and subsequent discovery of stolen copper wire, a pickup submerged in mud and a damaged tractor hooked to a loaded grain cart. “This is a case where the evidence is pretty clear,” said Lt. Paul Vrbka with the York County Sheriff’s Department. “There’s no doubt these two are copper wire thieves, they were involved in that type of theft and then a rain storm ruined their plans.” The sheriff’s department alleges that Marlo Turner, 42, and Michael Doxon, 34, both of Lincoln, stole copper span...

Louisiana Law By Addison Wiggin 10/13/11 Baltimore, Maryland – “Is this just stupid? Or sinister by design?” We couldn’t help asking the question when confronted by a law that took effect in Louisiana on Aug. 15, 2011. The short of it: In Louisiana, if you sell clothes or toys that your kids have outgrown for cash — more than once a month — you’re now breaking the law. And… the why: Over the summer, Louisiana lawmakers decided that mere laws against theft might’ve been good enough for Moses and his people back in the day, but not for the Pelican...

China Reveals Its Copper Stockpile Linette Lopez Oct. 13, 2011, 12:54 PM According to the FT, China's Non-Ferrous Metals Industry Association has announced that the country's copper inventories were at about 1.9 million tons at the end of last year. That's more that the U.S. consumes in a year. Estimates by the International Copper Study Group had the number 1.0 to 1.5 million tons higher. Here's why it matters: The fact that the amount China is carrying in its reserves means that their demand for copper may be less than we thought. And Chinese demand is so significant, that if...

According to preliminary International Copper Study Group (ICSG) data, global growth in copper demand for 2011 is expected to exceed global growth in copper production, with a production deficit of about 200,000 metric tonnes of refined copper expected for the year. The metal is regarded as a leading indicator of the global economy. It is used in the construction of buildings, power generation and transmission and the manufacture of consumer electronics. Copper wiring and plumbing are integral in these items. So, the higher the demand for copper, the more buoyant the global economy is said to be. That's why the...

Copper Telling You China Much Worse Off Than You Think? Published: Wednesday, 28 Sep 2011 By: Lee Brodie In a volatile market like this one, you can’t afford not to examine every development. And this one isn’t good. In fact, if you’re bullish it’s kind of a one – two punch to the gut. On Wednesday, materials [XLB 30.451 -1.409 (-4.42%) ] led the market lower as investors worried the crisis in Europe could catapult the world into global recession. Considering materials propelled the market to bull market highs earlier in the year, the poor action in this sector is...

What Are Copper And Oil Signaling? By Eric McWhinnie September 24 2011 With the markets in turmoil, investors are looking for indicators that will help clean their crystal balls. Two of the more widely used economic indicators are copper and oil. Copper (NYSE:JJC) is often referred to as Dr. Copper, because of its ability to give insight to the future of the global economy. Oil (NYSE:USO) is often seen as the lifeblood of the economy since it is used in everything from plastics to finished motor gasoline. Recently, copper and oil have given investors reason to worry. On Friday, copper...

Copper And Copper Stocks To Collapse Much Further James A. Kostohryz September 21, 2011 The Malthusian ideologues of "peak everything" fooled an outsized portion of the investing world into believing that commodities and commodity stocks could only go up. Even if these Malthusian prophets of scarcity were correct in their basic theory about the long-term supply and demand fundamentals for commodities (I think that they are partially correct depending on the time-frame you look at) the fact is that they are only correct from a secular standpoint, if at all. The problem is that many of these folks have confused...

Red Alert On The Red Metal?Bruce KrasteringSeptember 20,2011 At the end of last year I made predictions (a total of 44) of what might come. So far I’ve got (at least) one right and other dead wrong. I’m worried about the one I'm wrong on. Right -Volatility is going up across the board. If you have the stomach for the swings that are coming across all markets there is a ton of money to be made; balls and timing are all that are necessary. The markets will create dozens of opportunities to make and lose. . Wrong -Copper will continue...

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- A Lexington church is running out of cheeks to turn as copper thieves hit it for a third time. Pastor Derek Coleman of Gardenside Baptist Church said it’s hurtful that people steal from a church that’s willing to give to them, according to WKYT-TV. This time, thieves stripped copper piping from a building the congregation uses for missionary work and allows other churches to use in time of need. Damage done by the thieves makes the building impossible to use until it is repaired. The church is looking at new security measures after three copper thefts.

Copper Continues To Show Risk On By Jonathan Chen Benzinga Staff Writer September 07, 2011 3:28 PM If you look at a chart of copper, you wouldn't know the world is ending in Europe. Sure, we dropped from nearly $4.50 per pound at the end of July, beginning to almost $3.80 per pound just a few days later in August. Since that low in August, we have seen a somewhat shaky, climb higher. We touched a technical level of $4.225 on August 31, bounced off that and found support at $4.02 last week. It has not been a steady climb...

Connecticut State Police have arrested two men accused of attempting to steal electrical wire downed by Tropical Storm Irene in Canterbury. State troopers said that they were notified by concerned citizens that two men were seen rolling up electrical wires brought down during Irene's fierce winds and heavy rain on Gooseneck Hill Road. Responding troopers arrested Gary Malone, 28, of Canterbury, and Paul Sherman, 48, of Plainfield. Malone was charged with larceny, criminal mischief and operating a motor vehicle with a suspended license. Sherman was charged with larceny and criminal mischief. Both are expected to appear in court on Thursday....

Why You Need to Own Nickels, Right NowRobert WenzelSaturday, February 5, 2011 On November 11, 2010, I wrote in the EPJ Daily Alert: Back at the commodity level, copper is the latest to hit a record at $8,966 a ton. Copper is certainly not a "goldbug" play and is simply an indicator of economic (inflationary) demand. At some point, nickels, which are mostly made of copper, will start to disappear from circulation. There's right now 6.2 cents worth of metal in a nickel [Note the value is now up to 7.2 cents.-RW]. When I run into someone that does not...

Transient meth-head Kirk Wise probably made more money than you did last year -- and he didn't even have a job. Wise, 45, is a professional copper thief who steals copper wire to support his $100-a-day meth habit. He's pretty good at it, too -- according to Wise, he's netted nearly $100,000 since January of 2010 by selling the copper to scrap-metal recycling businesses throughout the east Valley. (...) He admitted to everything -- he said he stole copper to support his meth habit and he'd netted $95,000 since last January. He told police he'd been stealing copper for three...

The Shipping of Michigan Copper across the Atlantic in the Bronze Age (Isle Royale and Keweenaw Peninsula, c. 2400BC-1200 BC) Summary Recent scientific literature has come to the conclusion that the major source of the copper that swept through the European Bronze Age after 2500 BC is unknown. However, these studies claim that the 10 tons of copper oxhide ingots recovered from the late Bronze Age (1300 BC) Uluburun shipwreck off the coast of Turkey was “extraordinarily pure” (more than 99.5% pure), and that it was not the product of smelting from ore. The oxhides are all brittle “blister copper”,...

Gov. Nikki Haley signed a new bill known as the Copper Theft Bill that makes several changes to the current law regarding the sale and purchase of copper. Under the new law, anyone who intends to transport and sell any non-ferrous metal, including copper and catalytic converters, to a scrap metal dealer must first obtain a free permit from the sheriff in the county where the seller lives. There are two types of permits available to the public: one is a one-year permit and the other is a 48-hour permit. To obtain the one-year permit, a person must submit an...

PENN VALLEY, Pa. – A rash of copper thefts in Montgomery county has residents on alert. They may not seem like your typical targets, but thieves in Montgomery County are looking for copper. Gutters and downspouts made of the precious metal are being stolen from people’s homes along the Main Line. Lower Merion Township Police have reported a significant increase in the thefts of copper downspouts and gutters being taken from homes throughout the area.

PARKER COUNTY (CBSDFW.COM) - The Parker County Sheriff’s Department says thieves have stolen or damaged air conditioning units at seven different churches in the area, and that’s just in the last three months. Most recently the Faith Presbyterian Church in Aledo was vandalized when a unit was pulled from the side of the building. The damage will cost the church at least $10,000. Air conditioner thieves have also hit in Aledo, Azle, Millsap, Springtown and Weatherford. Police say the a/c units are tempting to crooks because they contain large amounts of copper, which is sold on the scrap market for...

Copper wire continues to be snatched from the East Bay city of Antioch this year, and that’s translating into a big problem for Pacific Gas and Electric – considering how much the utility relies on the material. Since the first of the year, 300 power poles have been knocked down in Antioch. The wiring contained on and within the poles was subsequently ripped off. Stealing copper wire is nothing new, but Antioch police describe the recent spate of incidents unusual. PG&E, meanwhile, maintains it takes $500 to repair a pole containing just dollars worth of copper. Copper went for $1.25/lb...

A reclusive copper heiress who spent the past decades living in New York City hospitals has left most of her $400 million fortune to charity--and a nurse who was randomly assigned to care for her 20 years ago. The New York Post reports that Huguette Clark did not leave a penny to her family members. The lion's share of her fortune will go to a foundation to promote the arts. She left the biggest chunk of the remaining inheritance--a testament worth about $38 million--to her private nurse, Hadassah Peri. She also left Peri her collection of dolls and dollhouses, which...

FYI: Copper thieves are known as "Copperheads", since they are lower than a snake's belly in a wheel rut!

Researchers reveal how prehistoric Native Americans of Cahokia made copper artifactsEVANSTON, Ill. --- Northwestern University researchers ditched many of their high-tech tools and turned to large stones, fire and some old-fashioned elbow grease to recreate techniques used by Native American coppersmiths who lived more than 600 years ago. This prehistoric approach to metalworking was part of a metallurgical analysis of copper artifacts left behind by the Mississippians of the Cahokia Mounds, who lived in southeastern Illinois from 700 until 1400 A.D. The study was published in the Journal of Archaeological Science in May. The researchers were able to identify how...

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WSAZ) -- A new law goes into effect Wednesday to try to crack down on metal theft in Kentucky. Attorney General Jack Conway announced that House Bill 242 passed both houses of the Kentucky General Assembly during the 2011 legislative session and was signed into law by Governor Steve Beshear on March 16. Click here to find out more! HB 242 prohibits anyone from buying or selling metal that has been smelted, burned or melted. "Near-record prices for copper, platinum, aluminum and other metals have fueled the theft of common items such as copper wiring from utility lines,...

Study Proves Copper May Prevent E. Coli Spread Drug Discovery & Development - June 03, 2011 Laboratory science conducted at the University of Southampton indicates a role for copper in preventing the spread of E. coli. The World Health Organization suggests the E. coli outbreak in Germany, O104:H4, is a strain never seen before. “A study looking at copper’s efficacy against new strains of E. coli has just been completed. Although it did not specifically look at O104, all the strains investigated have died rapidly on copper,” Bill Keevil, head of the Microbiology Group and director of the Environmental Healthcare...

This Friday will mark the release of the May unemployment report. A report that will reflect the last effects of the Obama trillion-dollar stimulus and of the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing (QE2). The report is likely to show that job creation is mediocre at best, with unemployment insurance claims continuing well above the 400,000 weekly level, housing in a double-dip recession and the gross domestic product contracting to a paltry 1.8 percent growth rate for the second quarter of 2011. The situation is so dire on the economic growth front that The New York Times has awoken from its slumber...

China's Real Estate Bubble Is Making Your Cell Phone Obsolete--And Valuable BY Greg Lindsay Today In the latest installment of Butterfly Effect, we follow the impact of China's bulging real estate market on commodities such as copper, the latest tech innovations those commodities enable, the scrap they create, and the subsequent recycling opportunities--in China. 1. China's Ghost Cities /snip 2. What Goes Up… Must Come Down? /snip 3. Warehouses Full of Copper /snip It worked like this: They would buy copper on foreign exchanges, receive letters of credit from government banks or some other form of financing, and pledge the...

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — There is now a shocking new strategy to fight copper crime. Street lights are now staying on 24-hours a day in one Sacramento neighborhood and the city is banking on live wires to keep criminals away. The city now figures keeping them turned on will save money, by warding off copper thieves; keeping the lights on mean live wires, and the unlucky thief who doesn’t know better could be electrocuted. It’s quite a warning, from a city that’s been hit hard by the copper crime.

A cascading crash in commodities beginning with silver a week ago spread to oil and copper as exchanges took steps to rein in speculation, economic data pointed to a global selloff and big name investors took profits.

3 Weird Things About Tonight's Huge Silver Selloff Joe Weisenthal May 1, 2011, 7:49 PM After last week's manic action, silver is falling out of the bed to start the new week, declining by over 9%. A few quick thoughts on the weirdness: * Nobody really knows what's up. Querying around, nobody has any solid sense (yet) of what's driving the decline. There was no particular news that would seem to be feeding into this. Update: There's a little bit of chatter about the weak Chinese PMI report from this morning, but it doesn't seem that convincing or robust of...

Gold And Silver Fall As Goldman Says "Sell Commodities" Commodities / Gold and Silver 2011 Apr 12, 2011 - 09:04 AM By: Adrian Ash THE PRICE OF physical gold slipped to a 3-session low in London trade on Tuesday, bouncing higher from $1455 per ounce – 1.5% below yesterday's new Dollar high – as world stock markets fell and major-economy government bond prices rose. Commodity markets fell after the International Energy Agency said crude oil at "$100-plus...will prove incompatible with...economic recovery" and weaker than expected UK inflation data followed the International Monetary Fund's newly downgraded global growth forecasts. "Not only...

If You Really Believe In That Whole "Dr. Copper" Thing... Joe Weisenthal Mar. 30, 2011, 1:47 PM Copper is seen frequently as a great predictor of economic health, but a lot of the time it moves in line with the overall market, and thus its use as a barometer is of limited use. Not so lately. While the market has come back nicely, copper continues to look very ugly, and is markedly bucking the uptrend today. Believe in the whole "Dr. Copper" thing? Now's your chance to put your money where your moth is. Here's copper going back a few...

KENOSHA - A January house explosion in Kenosha was caused by someone breaking into the house and stealing copper piping from the basement, according to the city. The house at 5504 22nd Ave. was a newly constructed home built by the city through its federally funded housing program. The home was completed in November and inspected on Jan. 3. Three days after the house was inspected by city of Kenosha staff, it exploded on the night of Jan. 10. The home, many surrounding homes, businesses, vehicles and other property were damaged in the explosion. An investigation by the Kenosha Fire...

Is The U.S. Mint Going To Change The Metal Content Of The Nickel?Wednesday, March 9, 2011Robert Wenzel The current composition of the U.S. nickel is 25% nickel and 75% copper. It currently costs roughly 7 cents worth of this metal combination to make a nickel. Not a very profitable operation for the U.S. Mint. This may be change. The United States Mint announced on Monday that it is requesting public comment from all interested persons on factors to be considered in conducting research for alternative metallic coinage materials for the production of all circulating coins. According to the Mint: These...

Gold and iron expected to rise, copper steady By Euan Rocha and Julie Gordon Euan Rocha And Julie Gordon Sun Mar 6, 5:28 pm ET .TORONTO (Reuters) – Gold should push higher from its near-record levels due to its appeal as a safe haven, while iron ore should regain its upward momentum on the back of red-hot industrial demand from Asia, forecasters told the world's larger mining conference on Sunday. Copper, an economic bellwether due to its industrial versatility, should be well supported at its current lofty levels but may have trouble pushing significantly higher as mine production races to...

Why You Need To Own America's Last Honest Currency, Now Robert WenzelFeburary 18, 2011 I have been writing about the great investment opportunity in nickels for some time. Nickels are an inflation hedge. Nickels are a deflation hedge. And you can buy them at a discount to their metal value. What's not to like? Gary Gibson does a great job of explaining the dynamics of the nickel: Every single circulating nickel still has 3.75 grams worth of copper each…along with 1.25 grams of nickel. Copper is currently about $4.46/lb. Nickel is currently about $12.97/lb. So if you do the math,...

Arrest made in copper thefts from vacant houses for sale As many as two-dozen homes hit in or near Reynoldsburg Friday, February 11, 2011 09:40 PM By Jim Woods The Columbus Dispatch He would make his move during the early-morning hours, seeking empty houses with "For Sale" signs on the front lawn. After forcing his way inside, he'd head for the basement and tear out as much copper pipe as he could carry. Reynoldsburg police think that thief is Timothy R. Harrington, 30, of 7042 Retton Rd. in Reynoldsburg. They have charged him with one count of breaking and entering,...

The suspect, identified by police as 46-year-old Thomas Justice Freeman III, had been using bolt cutters in an attempt to snip though a live electrical wire in the 2500 block of Double Oaks Road, just off Statesville Avenue. Freeman was pronounced dead at Carolinas Medical Center, where he was taken by two other men also suspected of attempting to steal copper wiring. According to police, the three men met at Freeman’s home Wednesday evening and devised a plan to steal copper wire and split the proceeds after selling it. Freeman used his own 40-foot ladder and climbed about 30 feet...

...Note that the CCI (Continuous Commodity Index) has run to its current level WITHOUT the participation of crude oil which at the time it made its all time high back in 2008 was trading close to $150. It is currently below $90. That is what is terrifying. We are in effect looking at the prices of food and metals in this CCI doing all the heavy lifting in the commodity sector. Heaven help us if energy prices, particularly natural gas which has been extremely cheap, take off. Note also the separate chart of copper which is now within a whisker...

There’s a lot of rumor, buzz, innuendo, chitchat and scuttlebutt about the precious metals markets these days. Most of the chitchat is about J.P. Morgan and silver. Rumor has it that J.P. Morgan has amassed a whopping short position in silver. The scuttlebutt, according to SFGate.com, is that “J.P. Morgan holds a giant short position in silver. Furthermore, some observers are accusing the bank of acting as an agent for the Federal Reserve in the market...i.e., a lower silver price helps maintain the relative appeal of the US dollar..." “By selling massive amounts of paper silver in the futures market,”...

I don’t know if you have noticed what I have, but lately it appears that people are using Copper as a poor mans currency. I started to notice during the crash of 2008, that copper was being sold in a .999 pure bullion. The photo attached is for a single troy oz of “Fine Copper”. The list price for this copper, as is, was 12 dollars. Think about that for a moment. Copper sells for about $4 per pound in the futures market. The contract size is for 25,000 pounds, and it costs $250 dollars per penny when quoting copper,...