Quadratic’s Davis & Seif: Copper Contrarianism

Bearishness dominated last month’s annual London Metal Exchange (LME) Week, the world’s preeminent base metals conference, and nowhere was the bearishness more pronounced than with copper. According to a survey Macquarie conducted of LME attendees, the percent of participants expecting a contraction in base metal demand increased by roughly half since last year. Furthermore, copper was participants’ most preferred base metal short—the first time it has held this dubious honor since before the financial crisis—and their least preferred long.