The base metals were nearly all in the red on Thursday. Copper traded beyond $3.98 in the pre-dawn hours but it was downhill from there during the trading day with each push higher knocked down into a finish at $3.9162/lb., down more than 2 cents.

The base metals were all in positive territory on Wednesday. Copper was flat until just before the New York open yesterday, but then it was off to the races for most of the day, with the metal coming barely off its intraday high to finish at $4.0123/lb., up 10 cents.