Overview
- Copper prices touched an intraday London Metal Exchange record near $14,875 and then reversed within the same session on Thursday, erasing much of the rally.
- Shares of major miners plunged in a concentrated selloff with Freeport-McMoRan down about 7–8%, Teck and Southern Copper off roughly 7%, and the Global X Copper Miners ETF down about 7%.
- The reversal followed reports that the White House has not decided on refined-copper tariffs, which unwound a summer scarcity trade built from heavy flows into U.S. warehouses.
- Rising Treasury yields, broad profit-taking across industrial metals, and technical selling amplified the drop even though there was no company-specific negative news.
- Copper is up about 19% year to date and miners have large gains, so traders say a formal tariff decision or further moves in interest rates are the key triggers that could re-accelerate or deepen the move.