The base metals were all in positive territory on Tuesday. Copper noodled around unchanged until mid-morning, when it took off and climbed steeply, then held to finish just off its intraday high at $3.4736/lb., up nearly 10½ cents.

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The base metals were mixed in undramatic trading on Friday. Copper bottomed late in the pre-dawn hours, but moved steadily up from there to regain positive territory, finishing near its intraday high at $3.3716/lb., up two-thirds of a cent.

The base metals were mostly slammed again on Tuesday. For the second straight day, copper held up pretty well until mid-morning, but then got pounded, finishing barely off its intraday low at $3.2638/lb., down nearly 9¼ cents.

The base metals mostly took another hosing on Monday. Copper held up until the late predawn hours, but tumbled from there straight through the day, finishing at its intraday low of $3.3553/lb., down more than 6¾ cents.

It was another bad day for the base metals Friday as copper, nickel, aluminum, and lead all reversed their gains of the previous day’s session and zinc continued its downward spiral. Copper was hammered all day long, ending the damage only at the closing bell. The metal finished at $3.4234/lb., down over 11 cents.

The Canadian markets managed a modest recovery from Tuesday’s massive sell off as select investors went bargain hunting during Wednesday trading.

It was a good day for the base metals Wednesday as copper, zinc, nickel, and lead all rose, leaving aluminum as the only metal to fall on the day’s trading. Copper rose steadily for much of the day, reaching an intraday high of over $3.55/lb. A late-morning sell-off reduced the metal’s gains, however, as copper finished up only ½ cents, at $3.5042/lb.

It was a mixed day for the base metals Tuesday as copper, nickel, and zinc lost ground, while aluminum and lead rose. Copper was up and down during the day’s trading, dipping briefly below $3.47/lb. in the early morning.

The metal pared its losses with a rally later in the day to finish down a little more than ½ cents, at $3.4997/lb. Zinc also took a dive in the pre-dawn hours, but rallied slightly from that point to end down less then a penny, at $0.7889/lb. Nickel was nearly unchanged in early trading, but dropped almost vertically in the pre-dawn hours to close at $7.8713/lb., down almost 19 cents on the day.

Aluminum bucked the trend of the other base metals by…

It was another terrible day for the base metals Monday as copper, zinc, nickel, aluminum, and lead were all down during the day’s trading. After remaining flat in early trading, copper prices plunged in the pre-dawn hours, falling almost 13 cents, to $3.5065/lb.

Zinc rose slightly in early trading, but soon succumbed to the downward pressure of the day to close at $0.7959/lb., down over 3 cents. Nickel fell badly throughout trading Monday, ultimately ending just off its intraday low, at $8.0603/lb., down 15½ cents. Aluminum also trended down all day, dipping below $1.27/lb. just before noon.

While prices recovered slightly, aluminum still finished the day down 3 cents, at $1.2796/lb. Lead was not immune to the base metals’ woes on the…