Mover Mike

I have posted three times about copper prices and the possibility of a squeeze based on an alleged short postion by a trader at the SRB in China of 100,000 to 200,000 tonnes of copper. I posted here that the short position was confirmed in the Washington Post By Peter S. Goodman who wrote

China on Thursday acknowledged that a since-detained government trader placed a series of disastrous bets on the price of copper in London this summer, leaving the state to cover hundreds of millions of dollars in losses, according to a report in official Chinese media.

I have read two articles in the last two days that indicate the story may be wrong. The first involved a man who visits a great number of places in China and says that there is a surplus of metal in the country. The second is an analysis by Frank Veneroso who comes to the same conclusion in a different way. He speculates that hedge funds are attempting to corner the market for copper and that demand for copper in China has slowed because of the rise in the price.

If the latter sources are correct, the price of copper is headed for a fall below $1.00 and some hedgies will get hurt. Stay tuned!

copper Mover Mike