What Does Dr Copper Say About The Global Economy?

Copper is often described as the shiny metal with a PhD in economics because it provides useful insights into global economic activity. The price of the red metal has rallied in recent days, and could be on the verge of breaking out of its downtrend during 2022 and 2023 that resulted from the bursting of China's property bubble and the decline in US housing starts (chart).

A similar pattern can be seen in the stock price of Freeport-McMoran (chart). The prices of the basic metal and the copper miner may be on the verge of moving higher confirming that the global economic outlook is improving as the new year begins.