Arizona republican., 1921-06-04

Is general agreement that there is what the technical writers call a firm undertone" What they mean by a firm undertone is that enough purchases a.e being made or that enough inquiries are appearing in the market to indicate that buying is likely to expand. and that, in con sequence, prices are likely to move up. Another factor which contributes to strength of undertone is diminish ing supply.
 Domestic inquiries have not been numerous, but the foreign movement has been fair. The sales to Japan were noted in our last review. Be- sides Japan Germany mas been buy I ing again and the expected settle ment of the British coal strike is also I relied upon 70 stimulate British pur- chases, as copper prIces have been rising on the British Metals exchange l In the home market the wire men l are feeling out the situation. While 1t is believed that wire installations | will not be on large scale this sum mer, the work next year will doubt less be much more extensive-p partic- ularly if the public utilities of the l iountry coatinue to gain.
 This raises for public utility mean l the question of the economy of pur- 1 chases of copper supplies now, be- cause of the favorable prices, and oi storing tho purchases TOT next years
 use. It has been pointed out, fol
 example, that the cost of labor in.
 volved in making copper wire ant
 lead encased cables is only s to 2 per cent of the cost os the final arti-
 cle. As it. costs about one eighth o
 cent per pound to carry and store | fnv in, price per pound next summer woul,
 make it profitable to purchase nov the supplies needed for next year. In view of the increasing empha sis put all over the world on th' , l utilization of water power. the de
 mand for copper for electrical pur [ | poses is bound to increase. At tn same time output is being restricte } | because much copper mas had to b sold at loss.
 The basis conditions thus point t
 a steady improvement of the position : | of copper in the world market and f is our belief that domestic consumer l; of copper on a large scale would d ] well to anticipate considerable pro portion of their future needs by pur
 chasing at what appears to us roc 7, bottom price.
 Present Price May Not Last Lon [ The present prices or copper ar }, not likely to last long. These ar
 supposed to be 13 cents for domesti
 use and 135s cents for export Eve
 these prices have perhaps bee
 shaded a little The Copper Expol < association itself is said to have q { the price one eighth or cent O 7, some Europeah shipments.
 But with all the big producers cul 7. tailing output tthe Utah Copper con pany has 150 men out of its norm ;a force of $500 men at work). eve d though accumulated stocks are lare a any considerable buying pressure W . quickly affect prices. Australian ar 1 Japanese mines. as well as those :. North and South America, have sh
 down and expert observers expre
 the opinion that the world market ar fast getting back into the hands
 the producers.
 l. Producers are reported to be man 2S festing considerable reluctance al
 aboiit quotations for future delive
 beyOnd June. Confronted with the
 facts 1t seems only reasonable to co
 clude that conditions in the copp r. market are almost ripe for a stea T. advance
 Moreover. when the advance b
 gins there is likely to come to |