The base metals were all flashing red again on Wednesday. Copper hit the skids in the late pre-dawn hours and fell through to mid-morning, after which it caught some buying, but not enough to return it to break-even as it finished at $1.5409/lb., down 4 1/3 cents.

Nickel declined pretty steadily straight through, closing at its intraday low of $4.0574/lb., down 14¾ cents. Zinc had a series of sharp ups and downs, ending with a loss of over three-quarters of a cent, at $0.5102/lb. Aluminum sagged continuously for a second straight day, settling at its intraday low of $0.7064/lb., down 3½ cents, while lead also plunged to its intraday low of $0.4368/lb., down 4½ cents.

Copper slipped to its lowest level since July 2005 on, no surprise, global economic concerns.

For a change, inventories monitored by the LME were off, but not by much. Stockpiles fell 250 metric tons on Wednesday, to

The base metals were mostly lower on Tuesday. Copper was in the green until late in the pre-dawn hours, then fell into the red and never quite recovered, finishing at $1.6362/lb., down nearly 2½ cents.

Nickel declined from the pre-dawn hours until the noon hour, rallied into the afternoon but not enough to take it back to break-even as it closed at $4.5888/lb., down just under 7 cents. Zinc pushed slowly northward throughout the day, ending just off its intraday high at $0.5603/lb., up more than three-quarters of a cent. Aluminum peaked in the late pre-dawn hours, then dropped straight through the day, just coming off its intraday low at $0.7935/lb., down a third of a cent, while lead traded flat until the afternoon, during which it lost a penny and a quarter, to $0.5295/lb.

Copper’s modest uptrend failed to hold, as traders’ pessimism evidently reasserted itself and they sold into the

The base metals were mostly deep in the red on Tuesday. Copper fell from the pre-dawn hours to the New York open, tried to rally, but gave it up to finish just off its intraday low at $2.0453/lb., down 11 1/3 cents. Nickel was down in the pre-dawn hours, shot much higher to the mid-morning point, but then tumbled back to break-even, closing at $4.6849/lb., up just over a penny.

Zinc declined steadily all day, barely coming off its intraday low to end at $0.502/lb., down 3¼ cents. Aluminum was off sharply, dropping nearly 3 cents, to $0.9116/lb., while lead was also hammered, shedding 3 cents to $0.6086/lb.

Copper led the industrial metals mostly lower, as fears about the Chinese economy remained in the forefront. The metal dipped briefly below the $2/lb. mark for the first time since December of 2005.

Edward Meir, of MF Global, stated flat out that copper’s slide is