By CME Group
The price of copper has long been viewed as a bellwether of global economic growth, given its widespread use in our everyday lives. Its relative abundance and affordability, combined with its ductility, malleability, resistance to corrosion and heat, and electrical conductivity makes copper versatile for a wide variety of applications. Copper's unique qualities give rise to both hedging by physical trading participants and speculative and macro-related position-taking by financial trading participants. COMEX, a division of CME Group, has offered copper futures contracts, originally, since COMEX was incorporated in 1933, and in its