Copper Falls as Fed Meeting Looms
2026-07-28 06:30
By
Jam Kaimo Samonte
1 min. read
Copper futures fell below $6.3 per pound on Tuesday, giving up the previous session’s gains as investors awaited the Federal Reserve’s upcoming policy decision, with markets pricing in better than a one-third chance of a rate hike.
That reflects an unusually high level of uncertainty this close to a Fed meeting compared with recent years.
Copper also came under pressure even after President Donald Trump said the US was engaged in "good talks" with Iran aimed at ending the Middle East conflict, sending oil prices lower and easing concerns over inflation and interest rate hikes.
Meanwhile, the red metal continued to find support from its favorable long-term demand outlook, driven by the global transition to clean energy and the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence data centers.
On the supply side, signs of near-term tightness in top consumer China continued to underpin prices, while severe storms in leading producer Chile heightened the risk of disruptions to copper production.