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Base Metals Battered As "Unholy Combination Of Factors" Crushes Copper

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Copper (and aluminum) tumbled overnight as base metals were battered during an intense Asia session and losses are extending in European trading. As one trader noted "sentiment toward China is weak, the dollar is somewhat strong and there is an unholy combination of many factors keeping prices under pressure," and copper traded $4,999/mt on the LME - its first sub-$5000 print since 2009. Aluminum, nickel and zinc all tumbled also.

Copper back at lows not seen since 2009...

 

And the last few days have seen losses accelerate...

 

As Bloomberg reports,

The plunge in copper means almost one in five mines globally is losing money, Macquarie Group Ltd. said Monday. Some mines, especially in China, will have to cut supply or close if prices stay so low, analysts led by Vivienne Lloyd wrote.

 

While disruptions in mining have reduced supply, it’s not been enough to support prices. Copper producers are likely to miss production targets by up to one million tons this year, according to Commerzbank’s Weinberg.

 

“This should provide a cushion for prices, but in reality it doesn’t,” he said. “The market seems much more concerned about the demand side. It’s very much about the sentiment of the market and that has been quite bad.”

*  *  *

low commodity prices must be unequivocally good for America, right?

 

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Tue, 08/18/2015 - 09:15 | 6438669 F em all but 6
F em all but 6's picture

Add silver to the battering this am.

Tue, 08/18/2015 - 09:19 | 6438680 readyforit
readyforit's picture

Getting a good fisting as we speak.

Silver, not me...

Tue, 08/18/2015 - 09:31 | 6438716 cpnscarlet
cpnscarlet's picture

When you own a bunch, what's the difference???

Tue, 08/18/2015 - 09:44 | 6438745 Creepy A. Cracker
Creepy A. Cracker's picture

Impressive.  Paper silver down 3.5% at the start.  Some entity didn't mind taking HUGE losses...

Tue, 08/18/2015 - 10:02 | 6438756 tc06rtw
tc06rtw's picture

 
… Dr. Copper to the Emergency Ward …
      …  immediately …
Dr. Copper to the Emergency Ward …
 

Tue, 08/18/2015 - 10:07 | 6438798 Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill's picture

He was run over by a steam roller on his way there.

Tue, 08/18/2015 - 11:04 | 6439024 0b1knob
0b1knob's picture

Wait a minute. Isn't this part of the plot (crashing copper prices) of the miniseries Poldark?

Is this reality or fiction?  Its so hard to tell sometimes.

Tue, 08/18/2015 - 09:33 | 6438723 AllThatGlitters
AllThatGlitters's picture

Holy crap silver keeps getting cheaper and cheaper by the minute.

Live Chart: http://www.pmbull.com/silver-price/

The question is though, where there be any retail silver left to buy if it were to get cheaper from here? Seems dealer stocks are dwindling once again.

Tue, 08/18/2015 - 14:40 | 6440073 crazybob369
crazybob369's picture

Dealer premiums are certainly going up. Few weeks ago you could get some rounds for about .40 over spot. Now around a $1. Classic supply/demand. Doesn't seem to apply to the paper silver though.

Tue, 08/18/2015 - 09:35 | 6438727 BandGap
BandGap's picture

You seemed readyforit, a good fisting I mean.

Tue, 08/18/2015 - 09:25 | 6438696 XAU XAG
XAU XAG's picture

The collapse is just getting into the ring

 

There are many, many rounds to go and alot of hurt to get through.

 

JMHO

Tue, 08/18/2015 - 09:19 | 6438676 MFL8240
MFL8240's picture

The Wall Street whores haven’t done enough damage, time for another Silver paper fraud to loot a few more million as the physical market tightens up.  The country is in serious trouble because since this joke was elected President, he and his communist friends have done all that was possible to destroy the fabric of this country and encourage this sort of looting. 

Tue, 08/18/2015 - 09:29 | 6438682 Dr. Engali
Dr. Engali's picture

All assets want to find their natural bottom where they were before the fed and .gov intervened in 2009. The "market", or what's left of it, should have found a natural floor around S&P 400 at the time, but couldn't thanks to the central planners. It has always been my belief that we won't ever have real markets again until all the leverage built up from the 90s on has been flushed out of the system, and the central planners of the fed are purged as well.

Tue, 08/18/2015 - 09:52 | 6438761 Fahque Imuhnutjahb
Fahque Imuhnutjahb's picture

 

 

"and the central planners of the fed are purged as well."

 

So, essentially real markets will reemerge after either revolution or civil war.

Tue, 08/18/2015 - 10:20 | 6438832 manofthenorth
manofthenorth's picture

Real markets exist today as they always have. They are refered to as black markets. The only place true price discovery occurs.

Tue, 08/18/2015 - 14:37 | 6440048 Creepy A. Cracker
Creepy A. Cracker's picture

Bartering.

Tue, 08/18/2015 - 14:37 | 6440045 crazybob369
crazybob369's picture

Or hell freezes over.

Tue, 08/18/2015 - 09:23 | 6438686 silverer
silverer's picture

As recovery and production costs increase, the need to get more for the material increases.  Copper and silver are way different animals, as copper is not considered a candidate for wealth storage.  It's price depends more on demand from industry.  If industry slows down, and demand falls, the price gets hammered.  It's like moving the target farther and farther away, trying to hit the bullseye.  Demand drops while recovery costs increase = somebody is not going to have copper.  The classic result and the reality is a decrease in the standard of living.  Silver price going down is driven by a whole different set of circumstances.  You don't see massive naked short sales of copper on the markets.  This is done with silver to save their paper asses.  This whole paper money system is due to go up in flames.  Clearly, market pricing and control is "getting out of control". 

Tue, 08/18/2015 - 09:36 | 6438709 Conax
Conax's picture

I hope all bullion bankers and fed-worms get boils.

Help me out here, Lord.

 

Better still, I hope the chinks take the Yuan down another notch, just to spite these slimeballs.

Tue, 08/18/2015 - 09:35 | 6438726 gaoptimize
gaoptimize's picture

Can one actually take delivery of a ton of copper at this price?  If so, what form does it arrive in? And I assume there is no free shipping.

Tue, 08/18/2015 - 09:43 | 6438741 tc06rtw
tc06rtw's picture

 
 …  only with a purchase of $35 or more.
    

Tue, 08/18/2015 - 09:36 | 6438729 Never One Roach
Never One Roach's picture

Robust!

Tue, 08/18/2015 - 09:37 | 6438731 jjsilver
jjsilver's picture

Copper, like everything else is rigged.

Tue, 08/18/2015 - 09:49 | 6438738 SSRI Junkie
SSRI Junkie's picture

booming economies lead to crushed commodity prices, it's simple economics 

Tue, 08/18/2015 - 10:47 | 6438748 cowdiddly
cowdiddly's picture

Deflation is a relentless beast. Everyone has been cheering for deflation, for cheaper prices but these same people ( including myself) )have never experienced it in their lifetimes. I have known lots of old timers from the 30s who did and I talked to them extensively about how thing were. Those old photographs just tell the story of a moment, but do not do justice to the years of what people had to endure.IT SUCKED.

But, its a long process that is needed after 75 years of easy credit and living excessively which we are all guilty on some level. No matter if its average income American people living in 4000 sq ft houses or China buying enough steel in one single year to build everything on Manhattan Island or worse a ghost city. I mean come on.

It sometimes makes me disgusted to see the corruption, blatant lies,falsified numbers, rigged markets, price distortions, but in a way I am thankful that we have such corrupt and immoral people in positions of power to have been able to fight this thing and put it off for 7 years  now to give us a chance to get our house in order. (My hats off to you Machivellian crooked bastards) But, the deflation beast is still there, having been feed a few crumbs,  waiting patiently like a plague of locusts to devour everything in sight..

This party is just getting started and its going to get ugly. And I for one don't think its going to be as fun as people think and once that horse leaves the barn, he feeds himself and its terribly hard to corral him again.

JMHO- Cow

Tue, 08/18/2015 - 09:56 | 6438770 commishbob
commishbob's picture

Highly confident I'm the only person on the face of the earth who has lost money shorting copper in the past week.

Tue, 08/18/2015 - 10:30 | 6438869 Grandad Grumps
Grandad Grumps's picture

Normally when copper tanks, tin also tanks. However, someone seems to be holding it up. My guess is that it is NOT Indonesia (a major tin producer), given their export situation and is more likely some UK based hedge fund ... like the last time.

Tue, 08/18/2015 - 10:46 | 6438944 Quinvarius
Quinvarius's picture

They ine 20 million tons of copper a year.  The Fed can buy all it wants, but there is no place to put it.  Way fewer people are using it. 

Tue, 08/18/2015 - 12:42 | 6439459 assistedliving
assistedliving's picture

make all HFT/paper pushers and other thieves issue their hard copy prints on copper or better silver

hate all taxes man but this transaction tax is looking better and better

 

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