The base metals were mixed on Wednesday. Copper pushed higher until the late morning, peaking just short of $1.51, then slid through the afternoon before settling in the green at $1.4733/lb., up 2½ cents.

Nickel built up a head of steam early as it bounced off the $5 mark, then held off some late selling to close at $5.2343/lb., up 20½ cents. Zinc was on positive ground until late morning, but fell straight down from there, ending at $0.4971/lb., down 2/3 of a cent. Aluminum was modestly higher, finishing at $0.6009/lb., up more than three-quarters of a cent, while lead sagged, shedding a third of a cent, to $0.5047/lb.

Copper led the gainers among the industrial metals, with the metal rising, as Reuters wrote, “in sympathy with rallying equity markets as investor optimism for the Obama administration to work quickly on a plan to mop up toxic assets from banks lifted sentiment.”

Reuters also reported that it conducted a survey of 57 base metals analysts, and the consensus was that the worsening global recession can be expected to slash copper prices by up to 50% this year.

For the moment, though, many traders were waiting until after the Fed had its say on the economy, which came in the late afternoon, so we should learn their judgment today.

The market is certainly not in for any support from stockpiles. Copper inventories monitored by the LME saw gains slacken from Friday and Monday, but they were still up 3,125 tons yesterday, to 454,925 tons.

The proposed Obama plan had some turning optimistic, however. Frank McGhee, of Integrated Brokerage Services in Chicago said that “copper is going to benefit from the U.S. stimulus spending on infrastructure projects … We could see increased demand over the next three to six months.”

Chiming agreement was Michael Pento, of Delta Global Advisors in Holmdel, New Jersey, who wrote that, “Infrastructure plans and monetary inflation should put a floor on base metals … Copper should have already bottomed.”

Source: Base Metals Mixed