While copper futures and JJC have recently shown signs of life, copper equities have struggled. Over the past month, the First Trust ISE Global Copper Index Fund (NasdaqGM: CU) and the Global X Copper Miners ETF (NYSEArca: COPX) are off an average of 5.9%. Last month, Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FXC), the largest U.S.-based copper miner, slashed its quarterly dividend to 5 cents per share from 31.25 cents.
Barclays’ optimism on copper comes after some other banks sounded bearish tones on industrial metals. In late March, Morgan Stanley pared its price forecasts on all base metals, citing slack demand from China. Goldman Sachs also anticipates an equally unfavorable outlook for the commodities space, predicting a 20% decline in global raw-material prices over six months. [Trouble for Commodities ETFs]
iPath Bloomberg Copper Subindex Total Return ETN
ETF Trends editorial team contributed to this article.