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Each week The Economist publishes a summary of economic and financial indicators encompassing some 42 countries. Of the 42, with the exception of Venezuela, all posted positive GDP rates during the 2nd quarter (with a few qualifiers), and for full year 2017, all are expected to expand except for Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. China, the world’s largest consumer of industrial materials is forecast to grow 6.8%, and nearby neighbors are also looking strong with India +6.7%; Indonesia +5.2%; Malaysia +5.4%; Pakistan +5.7%, and the Philippines +6.6%.
To state the obvious, expanding economies require industrial metals to support their growth. Along this same line, many countries, to include the United States, Britain, Germany, India and Brazil are seeing new, or near record highs in their equity markets. And interestingly, when the equity markets for the world’s ten largest economies are combined into a single index, here too, major turning points over the past ten years appear, along with the new high readings – despite some countries still being well below their high water mark.
We begin to wonder if we might also see new highs in the metal markets.
You can’t beat John Gross’ analysis of the copper market and he has been kind enough over the years to share his insight with Electrical Wholesaling’s readers. He is publisher of The Copper Journal and one of the metals' industry's best resources on copper pricing trends. If you would like to learn more about how to manage your wire and cable inventory in this volatile market environment, email John at by clicking here or calling him at 631-824-6486.