We would continue to keep accumulating Alcoa shares. One day we will wake up and the stock will trade between $43 - $45. A recent Barron's article points AA shares between $45 - $50! Regardless of any takeover the stock is being upgraded by Wall Street to the $42 level. The option trading today was literally insane...trading 6,000 MAR 32.50 calls, 11,000 MAR 35 calls, and almost 3,000 MAR 37.50 calls. Someone must know more than we do??? Time will tell!
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China's demand for copper remains strong
Robust appetite for metals points to unshaken industrial base, analysts say
Last Update: 6:23 PM ET Feb 28, 2007
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- So much for the Shanghai shudders. China is still likely to expand its consumption of copper and aluminum by at least 9% this year, said Citigroup Wednesday, a day after worries about a possible slowdown in the world's largest consumer of the metals triggered a global market rout -- with mining stocks hit particularly hard.
Analyst John Hill forecast Chinese copper demand will increase 9.2% this year, reversing a drop last year when Chinese copper users worked down domestic stockpiles.
Growth will likely speed up again in 2008, increasing 15%, as the country's demand for the conductive metal used in building pipes and wiring continues to expand, Hill predicted.
Likewise, China's aluminum consumption should expand by 15.5% this year, lighter than last year's growth rate, but still putting it firmly ahead of all other global users.
"We remain ardent adherents of the commodity supercycle," Hill wrote in a research report, referring to far-reaching, multi-year trends in the commodities market.
He added: "[we] do not believe that metals are artificially-inflated, supply-threatened, or cyclically 'cooked.'"
Still, he qualified that optimistic outlook by saying commodities are entering "a more mature phase" that places a premium on metals companies that show internal growth.
