Industrial metal markets are actively reacting to political shifts in the United States. Following the Democrats securing control of Congress, the US dollar has weakened against major G10 currencies. This scenario traditionally creates a favorable environment for commodities. On the London Metal Exchange (LME), copper managed to recover its losses, rebounding to $14,005 per ton. Despite recent fluctuations in New York (Comex) and Shanghai (SHF), the red metal maintains strong year-to-date gains of 9–13%. Currently, investor attention is shifting toward potential trade risks, including possible tariffs on imported refined copper that could be introduced by Donald Trump. This factor is restraining prices from returning to their historic September highs of around $14,875 per ton.
In the shadow of American events, the Eurozone economy is losing its previous momentum. October’s S&P Global Eurozone Composite PMI reading of 51.7 signals the weakest growth rate in four months, confirming a progressive cooling across both the services and manufacturing sectors. As noted by Chris Williamson of S&P Global, the European economy is entering the fourth quarter with an unexciting growth rate of 0.3%. Rising energy prices are driving cost pressures, which directly squeezes consumer budgets and stifles demand. Consequently, business optimism has dropped to a five-month low, and the labor market is seeing slight job reductions led by the services sector. Looking across Europe, France is the weakest performer, slipping back into economic contraction, while Germany, Spain, and Italy are experiencing a noticeable loss of momentum. This environment presents a significant challenge for the European Central Bank, which the market expects to resume interest rate hikes in December.
