PT: European physical copper market bearish after lackluster LME Week
European physical copper participants who convened this week for London Metal Exchange Week left with an overall bearish picture for the copper market in 2013, sources told Platts.
One trader said he had concluded no deals and that the outlook for 2013 was looking increasingly bearish for the first half of the year.
"After LME week there is no clear consensus other than uncertainty," one London-based analyst said.
He noted that he had heard that there had been a delay in the $158 billion Chinese infrastructure boost that was announced at the beginning of September.
"There has been a delay in the infrastructure spending. The feedback I have received is that money is just not floating to local government yet and they are all in debt," he said. The analyst said that metals, including copper, were now consolidating but that there was potential downside risk as the market waits to see some evidence of the Chinese infrastructure spending.
