The base metals were all basking in the green again on Friday. Copper had another strong day, pushing steadily higher from the pre-dawn hours to the noon hour, after which it came off a little to finish at $2.1688/lb., up 4 cents.

Nickel was choppier but had an upward bias, closing just off its intraday high at $6.2271/lb., up nearly 11 cents. Zinc followed copper’s path closely, ending at $0.6828/lb., up 2½ cents. Aluminum moved ahead, tacking on more than a penny, to $0.6353/lb., while lead made a powerful move, adding 3 2/3 cents, to $0.705/lb.

Copper led the industrials higher for a second day in a row, and ended May with its fifth straight monthly gain, as traders rode the declining dollar and those elusive green shoots northward.

Copper is now up 56% on the year, as commodities in general have done well. The Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of 19 commodity futures posted