Salt Lake Tribune | 1919-11-01 | Page 16 | Metal Prices Show Tendency to Weaken

METAL PRICES SHOW TENDENCY TO WEAKEN Metal prices, as quoted by the Engineering Engi-neering and Mining Journal and furnished by the Utah Ore Sampling company, show that during the week ended October 29 the demand for copper fell off o a considerable con-siderable extent. While the loss sustained sus-tained wajs not great. It was sufficient to show that the tendency of the market was toward weakness rather tnan arreneth. Copper closed at $21.31-5. as compared with. $21.75 for the week preceding; pre-ceding; the averageprico was I21.41i, as compared with $21.75. Spelter showed the same tendency to soften; the closing price for the week was $7.50, as compared with $,.667 for the week before; the average price was $7.68, as compared with an average price fConcernlng the condition of the copper market for the week, the Boston News Bureau says:. , ' .' ., "Approximatelv 600,000 pounds of electrolytic elec-trolytic copper was sold at 22 cents per pound last week by a mining company having local offices. This metal was purchased pur-chased for immediate delivery and was disposed of at the peak of the week's price, for the ranging quotation for most of the six days was less than 22 cents per pound 21 cents toward the latter part of the period. "Although any long cessation of soft coal mining would put a severe crimp in Industry in this country and further strangle an already lean consumption of copper, it is not expected that in the event of an actual walkout of miners the copper cop-per Industry would feel any Ul-cffects immediately. im-mediately. "Brass manufacturers run very strong on fuel supplies, and, with the winter not yet under way, It is a fair assumption that their bins aro not low. "Copper producers have taken hearb the past week over the advance in the price of lead to 6 cents per pound, an uplift of about a cent in the past, two or three months. Willie the relation .of the two metals Is not very close, it is taken to mean that the consumption of nonferrous metals is growing larger at home. What European demand will be is dependent upon the passage of the peace treaty and the stabilization of foreign exchanges. "In the meantime, unsold stocks of copper cop-per are getting larger."