[mattduke]

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM - News) has emerged as the mystery buyer of more than $1 billion of copper, accounting for more than 50% of all the metal stored in official London warehouses and stoking worries about an impending supply shortage.

The New York bank's purchases have caused a stir in commodities circles in recent weeks. The London Metal Exchange late last month revealed a buyer had snapped up a large chunk of the exchange's copper stockpiles, leaving some to question whether a trader was trying to corner the market for the metal.

Are they hedging their silver short position by going long copper?
http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budget ... et=&ccode=

[dinopello]

This past winter, the ice ripped down both sides of gutters on my house. One side was aluminum but the other side was older, copper gutters and downspouts. I thought I might be able to afford to replace all with copper but the cost was too high (damn JP Morgan!). But, I do have my crumpled copper gutters and downspouts in my garage and now its my semi-precious metal stash !

[pup55]

J.P. Morgan's copper moves illustrate how the bank has emerged as a major player in world commodities markets after spending more than $2 billion on a series of acquisitions

I suppose if you got a lot of free funny money from Helicopter Ben, you would be delighted to turn it into something of value, since you do not want it to become worthless as he prints even more money..... At least temporarily, the value of the dollar has not collapsed.... so what better way to park it somewhere.....

Here's the best part: Even if you do screw up, and the copper market goes short, the Fed comes along and bails you out because they cannot have you failing.....So there is actually no risk....

It suits the government to have a notionally US company control the bulk of the world's copper inventory... so the game goes on....

Why the LME or any of the other global traders put up with this nonsense is beyond me, except to say that they are terrified of any alternative....

[steam_cannon]

Anyone hoard copper wire as investment/inflation hedge, like gold coins?

There are people who do...