Friday, August 5, 2011

Commodities: "London, Shanghai Base Metals Hammered" (DBB; SLX; IYM; XME)

PowerShares DB Base Metal (DBB) holds futures contracts for aluminum, copper and zinc.
Market Vectors Steel (SLX) is, well, steel.
iShares Dow Jones U.S. Basic Materials (IYM) has a pretty broad mandate, top holding is FCX, #2 and 3 are DD and DOW.
SPDR Metals & Mining top four are gold, gold, silver, rare earths.
From MarketBeat:
London and Shanghai industrial metals were hammered in Asian trade Friday amid a savage slump in world markets triggered by fears over global economic conditions, while gold held firm on safe-haven demand.
Three-month London Metal Exchange copper was at $9,261.25 a metric ton at 0400 GMT, down $93.75 or 1.0%.

A Singapore-based trader said the sharp selloff in bellwether copper was a surprise, but expected more weakness in zinc, which fell 2.0% to $2,284.50/ton.

“About once every seven years, zinc drops by $200 in a day, so I am waiting to see if that will happen.”
Other traders in Singapore expected Chinese buying on the LME to pick up Monday, while more immediate cues will come from U.S. non-farm payrolls due later Friday....MORE