Note: Clients with AEGIS Platform access can see this and other research, plus hedge portfolio reporting and tools here.
- LME Aluminum 3M Select trades $-29 lower to $3012.50 at 9:07:06 AM
- LME Copper 3M Select trades $-280.25 lower to $14076 at 9:07:06 AM
- (Bloomberg) – Copper slid as inventories on the London Metal Exchange surged for a second day and a selloff in AI-related stocks sapped risk appetite across global markets. The red metal dropped as much as 2% to a low of $14,076 a ton, tracking losses in equities markets after earnings from major tech companies failed to reassure investors about the durability of the artificial intelligence trade. Copper has benefited from that boom because of its use in data centers and power infrastructure. The metal’s retreat from last month’s record high of $14,875 a ton has also been fueled by doubts over whether the US will impose a tariff on refined copper as President Donald Trump approaches the midpoint of his second term. The prospect of a levy has drawn vast amounts of the metal into Comex exchange warehouses in the US this year, squeezing supplies on the LME. Those supply constraints have caused spot copper prices to rally above futures over recent weeks, in a condition known as backwardation. But on-warrant inventories have surged by 70,100 tons on the LME over the past two days, with the backwardation creating an incentive for stockholders to deliver metal against short positions, rather than rolling those hedges forward at a loss. The bulk of the inflows were seen in the US, where futures prices on Comex have fallen to trade near parity with the LME over recent sessions. The collapse in the spread has come into sharp focus in the copper market, because it reduces the incentive to ship metal into the US and deliver it into Comex warehouses. Copper was 1.8% lower at $14,105.50 a ton on the LME as of 9:34 a.m. local time. Aluminum declined 1% to $3,023.50, while nickel gave up 0.6% after surging 3.7% in the prior session on the prospect of coordinated output cuts by Chinese producers in Indonesia. Iron ore fell as much as 1.7% to $89.45 a ton in Singapore, the lowest in almost two years.
- CME HRC Steel last traded at $1286 and $1 higher at 10/21/2026
Price Indications
Today's Charts
Metals Factor Matrix
AEGIS Factor Matrices: Most important variables affecting metals prices
Important Disclosure: Indicative prices are provided for information purposes only, and do not represent a commitment from AEGIS Hedging Solutions LLC ("Aegis") to assist any client to transact at those prices, or at any price, in the future. Aegis makes no guarantee to the accuracy or completeness of such information. Aegis and/or its trading principals do not offer a trading program to clients, nor do they propose guiding or directing a commodity interest account for any client based on any such trading program. Certain information in this presentation may constitute forward-looking statements, which can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “edge,” “advantage,” “opportunity,” “believe” or other variations thereon or comparable terminology. Such statements are not guarantees of future performance or activities.