Copper Moves Lower on U.S.-Iran Conflict Escalation

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• LME Aluminum 3M Select trades $-12 lower to $3180.5 at 8:27:27 AM

• LME Copper 3M Select trades $-101.5 lower to $13706.5 at 8:27:28 AM

  • (Bloomberg) – Copper edged lower as traders eyed escalating conflict in the Middle East, while remaining alert for any clues on potential US import tariffs on the metal.  The red metal fell as much as 0.8% on the London Metal Exchange Thursday, erasing an earlier gain. The Yemen-based Houthi militant group said that it targeted two Saudi Arabian oil tankers in the Red Sea, its first attack on commercial shipping in recent months. Oil futures drew closer to $100 a barrel.  Higher energy prices are a headwind for global economic growth and have fueled expectations of higher interest rates, both a negative for industrial metals like copper.  Elsewhere, the market has been focused on the possibility that the Trump administration will impose levies on imports of the metal. The US Department of Commerce was supposed to hand President Donald Trump fresh recommendations on levies more than three weeks ago, but no decision has been unveiled so far.  The prospect of levies has pulled large volumes of metal into the US this year, tightening the global copper market. Copper futures on the London Metal Exchange surged close to $14,000 a ton earlier in the week on signs that supply is struggling to keep up with demand, including in the key Chinese market.  The LME’s key cash-to-3 month spread has eased somewhat since then, though it remains in a pattern called “backwardation” that suggests short-term supply tightness.

• CME HRC Steel last traded at $1156 and $2 higher at 7/22/2026

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