How Copper Might Fare in a Recession

Copper has traditionally been viewed as a barometer of global economic health. That's given it the nickname "Dr. Copper" throughout the last several decades. When you start looking at where we've come over the last couple of years, there have been significant concerns about China's slowing real estate market that's weighed on copper over the last several years.

I think any slowdown that could potentially happen in the United States would also weigh on copper markets. There's a notable difference now versus previous economic cycles, and that is there's a lot more support for structural demand for copper as it relates to AI, electrification, and the energy transition.

This support wasn't there five or ten years ago or in past economic cycles where copper was really impacted. We do think that will provide somewhat of a floor on copper prices and should be supportive of higher copper prices going forward. The hope would be that it would help weather any potential slowdown in the US or other global economies as well.