NEW YORK, December 28, 2025, 21:20 ET — Market closed.
- Freeport-McMoRan shares last ended up 2.2% at $53.04, after trading between $52.66 and $53.76.
- Copper jumped to new highs in Shanghai and New York, while London trading remained shut for the Christmas break.
- Traders are watching whether copper’s tariff-driven price gaps persist as London trading reopens, and as rate-cut expectations keep metals in focus.
Shares of U.S. copper miner Freeport-McMoRan last ended up 2.2% at $53.04 on Friday, closing out a light, post-holiday session with gains tied to a renewed surge in metal prices.
The move matters now because copper prices have been setting fresh highs, and Freeport’s earnings and cash flow tend to rise and fall with the price of the metal it sells. Copper is a core input for power grids, construction and electrification projects, making price moves a key signal for miners and investors alike.
Holiday-thinned trading has sharpened the market’s focus on commodities, as investors weigh supply disruptions and the impact of shifting U.S. trade policy on where refined copper ends up.
On Friday, copper prices in Shanghai gained as much as 4.7% to trade near 100,000 yuan a tonne for the first time, while the most-active Comex March contract in New York climbed more than 5% to an intraday high of $5.90345 a pound, Mining.com reported.
Mining.com also reported that copper trading on the London Metal Exchange surged to a record high of $12,282 a tonne before the market shut for the Christmas break.
A Reuters metals columnist has pointed to a widening gap between U.S. and London copper benchmarks as the market prices in possible U.S. tariffs, a dislocation that has redirected surplus metal toward U.S. warehouses.
Supply risks have been part of the backdrop. Mining.com noted that a deadly accident at Freeport’s Grasberg copper-and-gold mine in Indonesia led the company to declare force majeure — a legal clause that can excuse delivery obligations after events beyond a supplier’s control — and to cut its 2026 output guidance, with full production expected to be restored in 2027.
Other copper-exposed miners rose alongside Freeport in Friday’s session. Barron’s reported Southern Copper gained 2.3% and BHP Group added 1.6% as copper tested new records.
The broader market backdrop has also favored materials and metals. Major U.S. indexes ended near record peaks on Friday, while precious metals pushed to all-time highs on expectations of Federal Reserve rate cuts and safe-haven demand, a Reuters report showed.
“Soojin Kim, commodities analyst at MUFG,” said the broader metals rally could continue, supported by “major banks forecasting further gains into 2026, the strength of physical demand and persistent geopolitical and monetary uncertainties.” Reuters
In copper futures, activity picked up into the end of the week. Estimated Comex volume on Friday was 69,848 contracts, while open interest — the number of outstanding futures contracts — stood at 268,638, an Associated Press market report showed.
Freeport’s shares have become a liquid proxy for copper sentiment in U.S. equities, and the stock’s Friday range left it near recent highs as metals prices pushed higher.
Before the next session, traders will watch whether copper holds onto its latest gains as London trading reopens after the Christmas shutdown, and whether the premium between U.S. and global benchmarks remains wide enough to keep pulling metal into the United States.
Macro signals are also in play. Reuters reported investors are focused on how soon the Fed may cut rates next year, and on the coming nomination process to replace Fed Chair Jerome Powell when his term ends in May — developments that can move the dollar and, in turn, dollar-priced commodities such as copper.
Freeport’s next major company catalyst is its quarterly results, which Nasdaq lists as estimated for Jan. 22, based on a historical reporting pattern. Investors will be watching copper price realizations, any updates on the Grasberg restart timeline, and cash-return signals as metals prices reset into the new year.
