Copper renews yearly low on recession fears, hawkish Fedspeak, focus on US PMI, Powell

• Copper drops for the third consecutive day to revisit the lowest levels since August 2021.
• Fears that economic slowdown will dent metal demand joins China’s upbeat copper production to weigh on prices.
• Fed policymakers hint at further rate hikes, softer economic performance to keep markets dicey on Juneteenth holiday.

Copper futures on COMEX stand on slippery grounds near $4.00, poking the lowest levels since August 2021, as economic fears weigh on the industrial metal during early Monday in Europe.

That said, the three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was down 0.1% at $8,955 a tonne by 02:42 GMT, after falling to its lowest since Oct. 1 in early Asian trade, said Reuters. The news also mentioned that the most-traded July copper contract in Shanghai fell 1.6% to 68,460 yuan ($10,233.49) a tonne.

The Washington Post (WaPo) raised fears of a tough new economic climate due to the US Federal Reserve (Fed) rate hike of the 75 basis points (bps). The news mentioned that the Fed’s rate hike launched a high-stakes test of the economy's ability to shed its dependence on limitless credit and tolerate higher borrowing costs for consumers, businesses and the government. On the same line were concerns about China’s 3.0% growth in the second quarter (Q2) of 2022.

Among the Fed hawks was Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari backed another 75 bps rate hike in July while Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Loretta Mester rejected expectations that the inflation will be softer going forward. Additionally, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also mentioned her expectations of a slowdown in the economy but ruled out recession concerns.

Also weighing on the red metal is the People's Bank of China’s (PBOC) no change in monetary policy rates. That said, the PBOC kept the 5-year and 1-year Loan Prime Rate (LPRs) unchanged at 4.45% and 3.70% respectively during Monday's announcement. The Chinese central bank’s inaction contrasts with the Western policymakers' hawkish bias but fails to renew the market’s optimism but failed to renew optimism.

Additionally drowning the metal prices is China's refined copper production in May rose 4.7% year-on-year to 0.91 million tonnes, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Friday, per Reuters.

Moving on, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s Testimony and preliminary readings of the US S&P 500 PMIs for June will be important for fresh directions.