Copper prices have entered new territory, so you can bet that investors are salivating at the increasingly close prospect of physically-backed exchange traded funds (ETFs) that own the booming metal.
iShares has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to launch its own physical copper ETF, competing with J.P. Morgan‘s copper ETF, writes Olivier Ludwig for IndexUniverse. The physical copper will be stored in U.S. warehouses or other approved locations. [Coming Soon: Physical Copper ETFs.]
According to CNBC, the new ETFs would account for 8% of the physical copper market, similar to how physically-backed gold ETFs operate, and would create a spike in copper prices.
Copper is commonly used in cable, wire and electrical products for electrical and building industries. Greater demand from the emerging markets has been driving up copper prices this year.