Copper Hits Record Highs While Smelters Lose Money on Every Ton

Copper is trading at record prices, and the people who turn raw ore into usable metal can't make money doing it. That's the copper market right now, and it says more about who actually controls the world's most important industrial metal than any single price headline does. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange hit an all-time high of $14,779 a ton on Tuesday, its fourth straight session of gains, before easing back toward $14,630 Wednesday morning. The metal is up close to 18% this year. COMEX copper in the US is trading near $6.75 a...