Copper continues to struggle

Copper has been trading flat to down over the past three months with a slight increase at the time of this writing near the end of October. Copper’s growth is being heavily outpaced by zinc and nickel. In August, Barclays predicted that copper supply will possibly outpace demand through 2020.

Copper supplies point to lower price

Copper inventories remain high and output continues to flow into the market as the price of producing a pound of copper is still below current market levels. Copper will need to dip to a level where output and inventories weaken in order for the price to recover. While other commodities have fared better over recent weeks, copper already suffers from weak supply-side fundamentals, and the stronger dollar put a knife in the back of its rally.