The base metals were mostly in the red on Tuesday. Copper tumbled during the early part of the New York session, but rallied strongly from there to regain most of the lost ground and finish at $3.7999/lb., down a penny from Friday.

The base metals were down again on Friday. Copper plummeted for a third straight day, dropping from the open to past noon, after which it did bump up at the end to finish at $3.7796/lb., down 6½ cents.

The base metals were mostly in positive territory on Tuesday. Copper revved up after the LME holiday, meandering up and down through about a 4-cent range yesterday, before settling with a nice gain at $3.9316/lb., up nearly 6 cents from Friday.