Record Copper: A Stock-Market Stock Puppet? In the history of the CME copper future since 1988, its 100-day correlation with the S&P 500, at about 0.64, has never been higher with markets rising. Correlations typically gravitate toward 1-to-1 on the way down. Copper may be in a must-go-up-or-else predicament, and hedge funds are stretched long the metal. At 26% of CME open interest, managed money net-longs are well above the average near 8% since 2015, when copper bottomed around $2 a pound. My graphic highlights the metal appearing stretched at $6.58 on Aug. 7 and its waning relative performance vs. the S&P 500, particularly since 2023. Longs in this dud relative to beta may be vulnerable to a sell-stop cascade. Since the start of 2023, copper has gained about 70% vs. the S&P 500's roughly 100% total return despite the metal's roughly 2x higher volatility. Full report on the Bloomberg here: https://blinks.bloomberg.com/news/stories/tj6rtdkgzak2 {BI COMD} #copper #stockmarket @Bloomberg(Mike McGlone)