This morning, all of the leading base metal stocks are declining lower. Leading stocks such as Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE:FCX), Rio Tinto plc (NYSE:RIO), BHP Billiton Ltd (NYSE:BHP), and Tech Resources Ltd (NYSE:TCK) are all coming under early selling pressure. The catalyst for today's decline in the base metal stocks are certainly due to the poor performance in the Chinese markets last night. The highly important Shanghai Index (China) closed lower by 2.60 percent last night and that tells the world that a slowdown in Asia is very possible.
Copper is considered the most important industrial metal in the world. Today, the iPath Dow Jones-UBS Copper Subindex Total Return ETN (NYSEARCA:JJC) is trading lower by 0.61 cents to $49.53 a share. Short term traders should watch for intra-day support around the $49.30, $49.00, and $48.65 levels.