WHAT IS METAL TRADING?
Precious metal such as gold and silver have been traded either as currencies, or commodities, for hundreds of years.
Gold and silver are heavily traded these days and are viewed as having a certain "security" and considered as "safe" investment.As they have been highly valued in our culture for so long, their value is now known intrinsically to us in times of economic hardship or global economic strife the value of these metals will rise as investors will see them as "safe-heaven" for their capital.
MAJOR METAL PRODUCTS
Gold and silver have been a major part in the creation of currency and trade from ancient times. They were both used to depict a monetary value or representation on how much gold or silver each coin was worth. Both gold and silver have been used as a standardised method of measuring wealth. The silver standard was a monetary system in which standard academic unit of account is a fixed weight of silver. The silver standard was widespread until the 19th century when it was replaced by the gold standard. The gold standard worked on exactly the same premise as the silver standard only it was weighted with gold instead of silver.
However the nature of gold and silver standard did have it downfalls especially the fact that they created boom-bust economies. Eventually gold and silver standards were replaced by notes and coins made from other sources that were used to represent a monetary value. Even though in the modern world gold and silver are not used as much to barter they are still highly regarded and as such have become a valuable commodity to speculate on.
Copper is an industrial metal used mainly in building and construction such as electrical work and plumbing. This is often considered as an accurate measure of economic growth. If the demand for the copper is increasing you will usually see at the same time as this an economic expansion. Chile, Peru, South Africa, North America and China are the larger producers of copper. Any political unrest in the main producing countries, strikes, or shipping problems could all cause the price of copper to fluctuate quite considerably.
WHAT FACTORS CAN AFFECTED THE PRICES OF THESE PRODUCTS
Gold price in general will react adversely to the strength of equity indices as inventors turn to gold for a more secure asset.
As with equities above, any factors that suggest global economic issues or problems, unemployment, GDP, etc. will again lead inventors to seek safer assets in the form of precious metals.
Unlikely to affect short-term prices, but may have an impact long-term. As these metals are minerals that are mined, they are clearly subject to supply pressures. At the moment mining is sufficient to meet demand, but deposits are not infinite.
High grade copper is used across the globe in all industries and as a result the performance of industry can have an impact on the pricing of this metal.
