The best bet in the base metals rally

The prices of key industrial metals have been enjoying a spectacular rally.

Silver bars © Getty Images/iStockphoto
Silver is an industrial and a precious metal, so it should profit from both good and bad news © iStockphoto
(Image credit: Silver bars © Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The prices of key industrial metals have been enjoying a “spectacular rally”, says Buttonwood in The Economist. Copper has jumped by about 25% since the start of April, while iron ore has delivered 12% gains for the year to date.

Commodity bulls have China to thank for this rapid recovery, says Buttonwood. Steel blast furnaces were running at 92% capacity in the first week of June, which is above normal levels. For all the talk of the Middle Kingdom’s shift to a consumer economy, the authorities seem happy to use the old method of stoking a construction boom when a round of stimulus is needed.

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Markets editor

Alex is an investment writer who has been contributing to MoneyWeek since 2015. He has been the magazine’s markets editor since 2019. 

Alex has a passion for demystifying the often arcane world of finance for a general readership. While financial media tends to focus compulsively on the latest trend, the best opportunities can lie forgotten elsewhere. 

He is especially interested in European equities – where his fluent French helps him to cover the continent’s largest bourse – and emerging markets, where his experience living in Beijing, and conversational Chinese, prove useful. 

Hailing from Leeds, he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford. He also holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Manchester.