NEW YORK, December 29, 2025, 20:51 ET — Market closed
- Freeport-McMoRan shares closed down 2.9% at $51.48, tracking a broader pullback in metal-linked stocks.
- Gold fell more than 4% and silver slid nearly 10% after both hit record highs earlier in the session, Reuters reported.
- Traders are watching Tuesday’s release of the Federal Reserve’s December meeting minutes for the next macro cue.
Freeport-McMoRan shares fell on Monday as a sharp pullback in precious metals and copper knocked mining stocks lower heading into the New Year. The copper producer’s stock ended down 2.9% at $51.48.
The move matters now because Freeport’s earnings tend to swing with metals prices, and the latest selloff hit after a year-long rally pushed several contracts to record levels. The year-end calendar can amplify price moves as trading liquidity thins and positioning gets reset.
Gold and silver are closely watched as broader sentiment gauges for metals and inflation hedging, and Freeport also produces gold and silver alongside copper. A pullback in those markets can spill into miners even when company news is quiet.
Spot gold fell 4.5% to $4,330.79 an ounce by early afternoon in New York, after hitting a record $4,549.71 on Friday, Reuters reported. Silver dropped 9.5% to $71.66 after touching a record $83.62 earlier in the session.
“All the metals moved up to recent and all-time highs. We are seeing profit-taking pullbacks off of those spectacularly high levels,” said David Meger, director of metals trading at High Ridge Futures. Reuters
Daniel Ghali, a commodity strategist at TD Securities, said liquidity constraints tied to a deadline for the president to make a recommendation on a critical minerals investigation, alongside holiday-thinned trading, exacerbated the drop.
The pressure was not limited to Freeport. Southern Copper fell about 2.8%, while Newmont slid about 5.6%, according to market data.
Base metals also weakened as the broader metals complex cooled. Copper was down 4.6% in afternoon trading, a report carried by MarketWatch and Dow Jones Newswires said.
Freeport is one of the biggest U.S.-listed copper producers, with assets in North America, South America and Indonesia, including the Grasberg minerals district, according to Reuters company information.
Before the next session, traders will focus on whether the selloff in metals stabilizes and how interest-rate expectations shift. The Federal Reserve’s rate-setting committee releases minutes from its December 9–10 meeting at 2:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, a scheduled event that can move yields and the dollar—both key drivers for metals prices.
Year-end liquidity is also on investors’ radar. Banks borrowed $25.95 billion on Monday through the Fed’s standing repo facility—an overnight liquidity backstop—highlighting typical quarter-end funding pressures, Reuters reported.
On the company calendar, Freeport has not announced a fourth-quarter earnings date, but several Wall Street calendars point to a late-January window. Nasdaq’s earnings page shows an estimated report date of Jan. 22, 2026, based on historical patterns.
Technically, the stock is about 4% below its 52-week high of $53.77 and well above its 52-week low of $27.66, based on the company’s quoted range. Monday’s intraday low was $51.17.
For now, Freeport’s next move may hinge less on company headlines than on the direction of copper and precious metals after a crowded, year-end trade reversed sharply.
