Comex copper futures today hit a new record high of $5.1280 a pound. Copper futures trading dates back over a half-century. Tighter global supplies, better world economic growth, smelter issues in China, as well as rampant market speculation, including a purported “short-squeeze” in Comex copper futures at present, are all driving the red industrial metal’s price sharply higher.
Copper’s nickname is “Dr. Copper” because the metal is so important in the global construction industry and can be a predictor of future economic and raw commodity price trends. Higher global demand for copper suggests better world economic growth prospects. That’s bullish for stock markets and for other raw commodity markets.
Could copper be the next cocoa? Cocoa futures last year at this time were trading around $3,000 a metric ton. In April, cocoa futures reached a record high of $12,261 a ton.
What the price of copper is doing now and what cocoa prices have done the past year are reminders to all raw commodity market traders and investors: Your market may be next to experience an unexpected moonshot in prices. Stay tuned!