Friday, October 05, 2007
Copper heads for 4th weekly advance
Bloomberg.com: Latin America
Copper headed for a fourth weekly advance in London as a strike by Peruvian workers cut production and on speculation a report will indicate economic growth in the U.S., the second-largest user of the metal. Lead gained to a record. A three-day strike by workers at a smelter and two mines owned by Southern Copper Corp. in Peru reduced output by 10 percent, Chief Executive Officer Oscar Gonzalez Rocha said yesterday.
The Motley Fool had this humorous comment. The effect for metal stampers, if they're correct, is more price increases in copper.
So here's the latest metal muddle. Workers at three of Southern Copper's (NYSE: PCU) Mexican mines have been on strike since the end of July. Wednesday, their Peruvian brethren struck for the third time this year. This isn't a knock on Southern Copper specifically. Dozens of Peruvian mining unions have agreed to a national strike beginning Nov. 5. Thus, these miner grievances are anything but minor.
Production outages, of course, support the price of copper as stockpiles fall. So it's a great time to own a copper producer, so long as its operations aren't being disrupted.
Copper headed for a fourth weekly advance in London as a strike by Peruvian workers cut production and on speculation a report will indicate economic growth in the U.S., the second-largest user of the metal. Lead gained to a record. A three-day strike by workers at a smelter and two mines owned by Southern Copper Corp. in Peru reduced output by 10 percent, Chief Executive Officer Oscar Gonzalez Rocha said yesterday.
The Motley Fool had this humorous comment. The effect for metal stampers, if they're correct, is more price increases in copper.
So here's the latest metal muddle. Workers at three of Southern Copper's (NYSE: PCU) Mexican mines have been on strike since the end of July. Wednesday, their Peruvian brethren struck for the third time this year. This isn't a knock on Southern Copper specifically. Dozens of Peruvian mining unions have agreed to a national strike beginning Nov. 5. Thus, these miner grievances are anything but minor.
Production outages, of course, support the price of copper as stockpiles fall. So it's a great time to own a copper producer, so long as its operations aren't being disrupted.
Labels: Copper
