By Andy Home
LONDON (Reuters) – Donald Trump’s U.S. presidential election win has not sparked a repeat of the explosive rally which followed his unexpected victory in 2016.
That coincided with a market that was heavily short of both futures and options and triggered a mass realignment of fund positioning.
This time, copper was in risk-off mode ahead of what seemed a close-call result. Fund managers were net long of copper ahead of last week’s election, but only modestly so.
Moreover, the market focus was as much on China as it was on the U.S. as the other big event last week was the meeting of China’s National Peoples Congress (NPC) Standing Committee.
The resulting $1.4 trillion package to ease local government’s “hidden debt” burden disappointed metal bulls looking for something much stronger from China’s cabinet.
As far as Doctor Copper is concerned, the main question around a second Trump presidency is whether the threat of tariffs will spur China to do more to fire up its sputtering growth engine.
ELECTION WEEK WOBBLES
Copper’s price reaction to the U.S. elections was revealing in what it said about the market’s real focus, namely China.
London Metal Exchange…
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