For all the talk about rising gold prices in the past year, it’s copper investors that have had the Midas touch of late.
Skeptical wealth managers, however, have been left wondering how much longer the good times will last.
Copper prices spiked over 10% last week, touching an all-time record high of just shy of $6 a pound, as speculative buying flooded the market in the wake of a 50% tariff announcement by President Donald Trump. Copper was already on a roll heading into last week’s declaration, helped along by the stronger than expected economy. The industrial metal is now up at 37% year-to-date, outpacing gold which is up 27% since the start of 2025.
James Cordier, CEO of commodity trading advisor Alternative Options, believes the sustainability of these high prices will certainly be tested in coming days as investors analyze the shift in supplies leading up to last week’s announcement.
“We see this as a boon for global producers and a temporary headache for end users as they grapple with the thought of securing more supplies at artificially inflated prices. A move they will likely balk at,” Cordier told InvestmentNews.
Moreover, Cordier feels the rally in copper prices will look quite nonsensical later this year, as true supply and demand calculations are examined. In his view, a sputtering Chinese economy and weak American demand from poor housing starts combined with record global output has $6 Copper looking “extremely rich” at this point.
“Investors may want to consider the idea that industrial metals have had a very nice run and could be due for a pullback. Copper prices traded at just slightly above $2 a pound in March of 2020, a very nice run indeed,” Cordier said.
It’s also worth noting that the good times for copper have not exactly extended to the miners. The Sprott Copper Miners ETF (Ticker: COPP), which offers exposure to established copper mines, is only up 13.5% year-to-date. (For the record, the Sprott Junior Copper Miners ETF (Ticker: COPJ) has fared much better, rising 42% year-to-date.)
Jason Britton, managing partner and CIO of Reflection Asset Management, meanwhile, sees the price surge as a reflection of inventory stockpiling and order placing in a race against the clock.
“The year-over-year increase I think is more aligned with the macro trends of energy transition and AI chip demand,” Britton said.
Britton believes continued growth in copper demand should continue in the near term and this will continue to put upward pressure on prices and make the focus on recycling even more attractive.
Elsewhere, Ben Lies, president and chief investment officer with Delphi Advisers, said the domestic production of copper will take a very long time to increase in order to smooth out the current supply/demand imbalance. In the meantime, he believes importers will continue to to front-run the tariffs by increasing purchases and imports, resulting in a temporary increase in short-term demand.
“There is one other factor that may also be contributing to the increase in copper prices and that is a decrease in the value of the US dollar. From a very high level, the lower the value of the dollar, the higher the price of commodities will be, including copper,” Lies said.
Lies emphasized: “Being a commodities investor is not for the faint of heart and most investors struggle with market timing, professionals included. Just because demand is outpacing supply today does not mean that will continue tomorrow. In the near term, we are likely to see prices come back down after the tariff policy is set and implemented, whatever that may end up looking like.”
Finally, Sean Beznicki, director of investments at VLP Financial Advisors, does not actively invest in copper, but views it, along with other precious metals, as a useful market bellwether, particularly for gauging industrial demand and economic momentum.
That said, he prefers gold, which he believes serves as a more “effective proxy for global risk hedging and a store of value during periods of market uncertainty.”
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