Copper is trading at $6.23, up 0.29% today. Last updated 1:01 PM ET.
Copper is the world's third-most-consumed metal after iron and aluminum, and its spot price is widely treated as a real-time gauge of global industrial demand — the long-running "Dr. Copper" nickname comes from the metal's reputation as a leading indicator for the economy. Roughly 60% of copper consumption goes into construction, electrical grids, and household wiring, with another large share flowing into transportation, where each electric vehicle uses two to four times more copper than a comparable internal-combustion car.
Supply is heavily concentrated in Chile and Peru, with Freeport-McMoRan (FCX), Southern Copper (SCCO), and Hudbay Minerals (HBM) among the largest US-listed producers. Investors get pure exposure through CPER (the only physical-tracking copper ETF) or to a basket of mining equities through COPX. Because copper is a base metal — not a precious one — it tends to trade with growth assets (cyclical equities) rather than as a safe haven like gold.