Copper price gains as traders assess China deflation, Fedspeak

Two Federal Reserve officials said the US economy still hasn’t felt the full effect of past interest-rate increases, suggesting more slowing is yet to come.

“In aggregate, we are still not seeing the full effects of policy,” Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin said Thursday during a fireside chat in New Orleans. Speaking at the same event, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said he agreed.

Fed officials are trying to determine if they should keep raising interest rates after electing to leave the central bank’s benchmark unchanged at their last two policy meetings. It’s currently in a range of 5.25% to 5.5%, the highest in 22 years.

Investors no longer expect additional increases, according to futures. Fed Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak later Thursday in Washington at a conference hosted by the International Monetary Fund.

The red metal declined earlier after official statistics showed Chinese consumer prices down more than the median economist forecast. The weak print underscores concerns about overall demand in the world’s top metals consumer.

That may push the People’s Bank of China to loosen monetary policy further, according to Bloomberg Economics. Base metals have faded this week after rallying since mid-October on bets Beijing would stimulate its economy to avoid a growth slowdown after months of tepid data.

“The Chinese are actually on the bid in copper,” said Alastair Munro, an analyst at Marex, pointing to increasing tightness in the onshore market. “The high frequency traders are selling.”