New York, Feb 2, 2026, 12:21 (EST) — Regular session
- Freeport-McMoRan shares were up about 1% at midday after dipping nearly 5% earlier.
- Copper slid as a broader commodities selloff deepened and metals traders adjusted to higher futures margins.
- The next test is U.S. labor data on Feb. 6, with policy headlines still driving fast moves in metals.
Freeport-McMoRan shares were up 1.1% at $60.88 by midday on Monday, after an early drop dragged the stock to $57.29. The shares later touched $61.41 as traders bought the dip in a volatile session.
The bounce came as industrial metals stayed under pressure. Commodities sank after Donald Trump picked Kevin Warsh to replace Jerome Powell in May, feeding fears rates stay higher for longer and the dollar stays firm. “The decision by markets to sell precious metals alongside U.S. equities suggests investors view Warsh as more hawkish,” Vivek Dhar at Commonwealth Bank of Australia said. CME Group also raised margin requirements for metal futures; margin is the cash traders must post to hold positions. Tony Sycamore at IG called the selloff in gold “something I haven’t witnessed since” the 2008 crisis. (Reuters)
U.S. stocks, meanwhile, chopped around as investors looked past the metal rout and back toward earnings and data. “There’s a ripple effect in stocks, but you’re seeing sort of a change in mindset in terms of where equity investors are looking for leadership,” Jim Baird of Plante Moran Financial Advisors said. (Reuters)
In copper, the price action was cleaner than the tape in mining shares. COMEX copper futures for February were down about 3.6% on the day, while London Metal Exchange copper was off 3.4% on a day-delayed close. (CME Group)
Some of the resilience in miners tracked a better U.S. factory read. The Institute for Supply Management manufacturing PMI — a survey gauge where readings above 50 signal expansion — rose to 52.6 in January from 47.9, Reuters reported. New orders jumped to 57.1. (Reuters)
For Freeport, the commodity swing matters because copper still drives the story. The company is the world’s largest publicly traded copper producer, and it cut its 2026 production outlook by 50 million pounds to 3.4 billion pounds after disruption at the Grasberg mine in Indonesia. Chief Executive Kathleen Quirk said the incident was “humbling” and the company was focused on safely restoring operations. (Reuters)
Peers also moved against the copper slide. Southern Copper was up 1.3%, while BHP rose 1.3% and Rio Tinto gained 1.9%. The SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF was down 0.2%.
But the risk is straightforward: if copper keeps sliding, the stocks usually catch up. Higher futures margins can force traders to cut positions quickly, and softer buying into holiday periods can thin liquidity and widen intraday swings.
Another policy headline is close at hand. U.S. Export-Import Bank’s board is set to vote later Monday on a 15-year, $10 billion loan tied to “Project Vault,” a proposed $12 billion critical-minerals stockpile initiative, a Trump administration official familiar with the plan told Reuters. (Reuters)
What investors watch next is Friday’s U.S. employment report for January, due Feb. 6 at 8:30 a.m. ET, a key read on growth and the rate path that has been driving the dollar — and, by extension, copper-linked shares like Freeport. (Bls)
