Here are four things you need to know this morning
Copper futures in flux: Investors in metal producers are trying to figure out the implications of a threat by U.S. President Donald Trump to slap a big 50 per cent import tax on copper imports. His warning, in an apparently off-the-cuff comment to reporters, sparked chaos in metals markets Tuesday. There was a record spike in New York copper futures. Such a levy would impose costs across the U.S. economy because the metal is so widely used.
Playing the red metal: Our copper coverage on Wednesday includes insight from Canaccord Genuity analyst Dalton Baretto. A tariff would be likely to raise prices in the U.S. and Baretto says companies with producing U.S. mines today include Freeport-McMoRan and Rio Tinto. He also says Toronto-listed Taseko Mines is poised to deliver copper cathode production in the U.S. by year-end from its Florence project in Arizona.
H&R REIT in the crosshairs: The Globe and Mail says U.S. private equity funds and the giant Public Sector Pension Investment Board are in talks to acquire H&R Real Estate Investment Trust, which has a market cap just north of US$3.5 billion. Last week, H&R said it has been getting proposals to buy all or part of the REIT. Activist investor K2 & Associates Investment Management is demanding that the company disclose the suitors, complaining that “the board has decided to keep unit holders completely in the dark about potential paths forward.”
Managing more employees: Finally, the much-derided middle manager is an increasingly endangered species. Axios says U.S. people managers now oversee about twice as many workers as just five years ago and AI may be hastening the process. Gusto, which handles payroll for small and medium-sized employers, came up with the figure, adding that “it’s happening broadly across the economy.” So, if your direct boss seems harassed and harried, cut them a break.
