Copper, base metals sink as 'doggedly hawkish' Fed rattles investors

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Prices for copper and industrial metals fell sharply Thursday, after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the battle against inflation will require borrowing costs to rise further and that it was "very premature" to discuss when the Fed might pause its rate hikes.

According to Reuters, three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange recently traded -2% to $7,478/metric ton, while LME aluminum -1% to $2,228/ton, nickel -2.4% to $23,555/ton, lead -1.3% to $1,963 and tin -1.2% to $17,820.

ETFs: (NYSEARCA:COPX), (CPER), (JJC), (JJCTF)

Potentially relevant tickers include (NYSE:FCX), (SCCO), (TECK), (HBM), (TGB), (OTCPK:FQVLF)

London zinc -3% to 2,665/ton after available LME inventories - those not earmarked for removal - rose 59% to 36.6K tons.

"The market wasn't expecting the Fed to remain so doggedly hawkish," Liberum commodity strategist Tom Price told Reuters, expecting equity and commodity markets to stay under pressure in the next few days.

In China, the most traded December copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange -0.4% to 63,350 yuan/ton (~$8,670).

China recorded 3,200 daily local COVID-19 cases for November 2, the highest tally in two and a half months.

Copper futures have fallen ~30% from a March peak, but Freeport McMoRan CEO Richard Adkerson said recently the weak pricing does not reflect a "strikingly tight" physical market for the metal.