Copper futures surpassed $5 per pound, close to the record-high...

Copper futures surpassed $5 per pound, close to the record-high $5.13 touched on May 15th as bets of higher demand in top consumer China magnified concerns of supply deficits. The Chinese government announced it will purchase unsold housing inventory to combat oversupply and limit defaults for distressed developers, among Beijing's boldest measures to spur economic activity. Demand was also supported by CNY 1 trillion in stimulus through long-dated bond issuance this year, largely aimed at infrastructure. This magnified bullish bets for copper consumption due to its key role in electrification, from grid-scale energy storage to data-center infrastructure. In turn, low copper availability hampered output forecasts for smelters in China, responsible for over half of global supply.