Has anyone noticed that copper and aluminum prices have skyrocketed

I tried to paste in a graph in from the London Metals Exchange, but it didn't work.

You can go there yourself--check out "copper" and "aluminum alloy"

http://www.lme.com/dataprices_pricegraphs.asp

Do a graph going back all the way to 1998 for copper, and you will see what I mean.

I would suggest everyone look at this graph.

It does look like a skyrocket the last few months. Even Frodo would agree,

[junker]

1. Hahahahahaha! Not just metals....look at the whole CRB - even food

look to the food components of the CRB if you want a real shock...

food prices will be escalating like no one has ever seen before election...

2. I am trying to figure out EPS cuts at GE and some of the other companies

Copper and aluminum are used everywhere.

[DinahMoeHum]

3. Hmmmm, if I were a commodity futures trader, I'd be

contrarian, and start buying Put options, speculating that the price will go down, and faster than they rise. Don't know when that will happen, but it WILL happen.

:evilgrin:

4. Houses, cars, boats, electronic chips, engines, aircraft

They all use copper and aluminum.

The margins on these things has to go down.

[Old and In the Way]

5. SE Asia demand?

I read somewhere that China has 300MM new consumers added to their economy in the past 15 years. They also are producing bricks at the rate of 1.6 trillion per year. Bricks are used in every type of structure, from single room homes to 100 story skyscrappers....now that's mind boggling number.

6. I HOPE they are not building 100 story buildings with bricks in China!

Bricks don't hold up very well in earthquakes, and are kinda heavy for buildings that high.

However,they probably are using a lot of STEEL, COPPER, and ALUMINUM.

[Old and In the Way]

8. No, they do, it was something that amazed me, too.

Reinforced concrete shell and brick. Everything finished in tile. In Zhongshan they had 2 50 story buildings that were built, but not finished (tiled) for 5 years. I really wonder about the condition of the brink and morter when exposed like that for 5 years.

Of course, to make the bricks, you need lots of clay. You see lots of 1-2000 foot mountains with half or more of the mass removed.

[will work 4 food]

9. Just had

a conversation the other day with a guy who runs a factory in China. There are massive shortages of raw materials over there. As the prices rise we may be able to compete again.

[Old and In the Way]

10. I suspect that we'd have the same problems.

Aluminum, copper are primary commodities and their price reflects scarcity vs. demand. Pretty much anywhere you go. I think it will mean increased costs, but that won't affect our competitiveness....just paying more for stuff.

11. Much copper is imported...

Affects US companies strongly.

Comes from Indonesia, Chile and Papua New Guinea

Aluminum is used all over. Also affects US companies strongly.

The weak dollar makes this worse. Clearly inflationary.

[Flightful]

7. Probably related to USD

A lot of these commodities are produced outside the US, so if your dollar drops it will push the prices up. It would be interesting to compare these prices with the value of the dollar over the same period, or to graph the price trend in Canadian dollars.

[brokensymmetry]

17. Per this week's Economist -

the USD is down 30% versus the Euro, and about 15% versus a basket of foreign currencies. They estimate that it would require a further 20% decline versus the basket of currencies to bring the trade deficit into order...

But metals have gone up more than that, so something else (scarcity?) is at work.

[latebloomer]

12. Save those pennies!

Maybe soon they'll be worth a dollar each!!

[Thothmaninoff]

13. Stick with pre-1982 pennies

They were 95% copper and 5% zinc, but after that they were 0.8% copper (plated) and 99.2% zinc because of this exact issue.

Contrary to the official story that there is no inflation, metals and rising prices in general over the past few years tell a different story. After hovering for an age in the mid $4 range, silver didn't waste much time in the $5-6 range on its 2003 climb. This after the US Government officially ran out of silver in 2002 (that was ours, of course - used to be in our pockets). But I digress.

While all currencies are now fiat (well, unless the price of zinc and other materials used in currency skyrocket beyond face value), ours has enjoyed its hegemonic reserve-currency status and that is starting to change.

[latebloomer]

14. Interesting-- thanks!

[slackmaster]

18. 1982 pennies are bronze as well

1983 through present are zinc plated with copper.

[Viking12]

15. This graph??

http://www.lme.com/2536.asp

[arko]

16. Yep, all metals

I got caught this week on it. I estimate fabrication work and generally only check prices occasionally.

Steel and Stainless steel prices have went up 40% since December. I've also heard pipe prices have double in the same time frame.

I read one report that said United States steel companies decided that demand was up and supplies were tight it would be a good time to raise prices. Analyst claimed prices are higher than the market will bear and will level off and fall by June.

The other rumor I heard was that China was getting ready for the olympics and was in the steel market buying everything they could get their hands on. (or maybe aircraft carriers and subs?)

Bush's steel tariff idea may back-fire hard enough to blow him out of office. So far they have cost 5 to 6 jobs for every 1 job they saved and predictions are it will reach 8:1.

[Crachet2004]

19. The dollar will continue to crash...

As the rest of the world dumps them from their forex reserves as a vote of no-confidence in Bush economic and and foreign policies.

I think most people have yet to realize what a hole Bushco has dug for this country! And now that there is an alternate vehicle for foreign echange, the Euro, they really can do without us-whereas before they could not.

We need to dump Bush and get with the europeans to stabilize currency markets before the rest of the world turns their backs on both fiat currencies...the euro and the dollar both having intrinsic values of zip.

Having our currency as the designated medium for forex is a great natural advantage for this country, but now the europeans want a cut.

20. One domestic producer of copper

Is Phelps-Dodge.

To get an idea of how high the price of copper is, the stock of the company is at all all time high.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=PD&t=my&l=off&z=m&q=l&c=

Look at the slope of that puppy on the right! The price of copper has a similar slope.

But there is no inflation....reallly....honestly...truly!

21. (deleted)