Copper: Bulls lose the battle, not the war

Down for 6th straight week

While the LME copper price dropped for a sixth week in a row last week (-1.0%, closing Friday at $6,152 per tonne), the pace of selling has gradually eased while trading volumes have weakened. This could suggest that the magnitude of selling interest has receded and that an inflection point is around the corner. Despite positive fundamental news flow (more details below), copper was more sensitive to growing macro tensions stemming from the trade conflict between China and the US. Similarly, to other industrial metals, copper was negatively impacted by the disinflationary wave triggered by China after authorities decided to let the yuan fall to its lowest level since June 2016, leading to a stronger dollar and its...