Base Metals Lower as Markets Awaits Fed's Rate Decision

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• LME Aluminum 3M Select trades $-20.25 lower to $3147 at 8:29:28 AM

• LME Copper 3M Select trades $-108.50 lower to $13625.50 at 8:29:32 AM

  • (Bloomberg) – Copper fell with most other metals as caution took hold ahead of a Federal Reserve decision on interest rates this week, while a deepening selloff in chip stocks also weighed on sentiment.  Price pressures stemming from the Middle East war have fueled bets on policymakers opting for a rate increase at the Wednesday meeting, although June’s inflation reading was tamer than expected. Analysts have cited a hawkish turn by global central banks as a key risk for metals prices after a relatively strong year.  Copper has gained as growing signs of supply stress underpin prices despite geopolitical uncertainty. Spot prices have jumped above later-dated futures in recent sessions, in a condition known as backwardation that signals tightening spot supply.  Citigroup Inc. sees prices pushing to $14,500 a ton in the coming three months, but Bloomberg Intelligence said the metal’s fair value was near $13,500 as the rally loses steam.  “The current copper price is sustainable,” Grant Sporre, senior analyst at BI, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “If the war does drag on and we do start to see rate hikes and we do start to see a big drag to global growth — which up to now we haven’t really noticed too much — then that may be a risk to copper prices.”

• CME HRC Steel last traded at $1156 and $0 lower at 7/27/2026

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