The base metals were all mired in the red on Monday. Copper peaked during the pre-dawn hours and slid from there until the late morning, when it rallied slightly off its intraday lows to finish at $3.8245/lb., down 4¼ cents.

Crude oil is grabbing the headlines but it’s coal and uranium that together provide nearly half the world’s power.

Outside of nickel, the base metals were all on fire on Friday. Copper rose straight from the pre-dawn hours until the late morning, only then coming off its intraday highs to finish at $3.866/lb., up nearly 8 cents.

The base metals were mixed on Thursday. Copper rose straight from the pre-dawn hours until about noon, then eased slightly off its intraday high to finish at $3.7867/lb., up 6½ cents.

The base metals were nearly all in the red on Wednesday. Copper tumbled from the pre-dawn hours until about mid-morning, then traded with a slight upward bias to finish at $3.7215/lb., down more than 6¾ cents.

When a commodity or stock breaks out to new highs, as oil has done again this week, it’s extremely unwise to go short, as many are suggesting. I have no doubt, of course, that now I’ve said that in print, it will mark the top of the market.

The base metals were mostly higher on Tuesday. Copper pushed higher in the pre-dawn hours, but then dropped in New York, rallying slightly at the end to finish at $3.7897/lb., down a bit less than a penny.

The base metals were nearly all in the black on Monday. Copper was up from the open through to the noon hour, after which it traded sideways and finished at $3.7982/lb., up less than 2 cents.

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.

It takes nearly five hours by plane to get from my new hometown of Melbourne, Australia to the Timor Sea, the body of water that lies off Australia’s northwest coast.