Copper and resources are sending us a cleaner market signal than AI stocks.
Channeling Ludwig von Mises, we observe this morning that price is not just a number; it’s information. Price reflects what buyers and sellers collectively believe: demand, scarcity, fear, speculation, disappointment, future expectations and available supply.
When prices rise, and inventories fall at the same time, the message is usually straightforward: buyers need the stuff, and there is not enough of it:
Copper stockpiles are falling as demand outstrips supply. Ergo, prices are rising. (Source: London Metal Exchange)
The AI trade – hyperscalers, memory chips and software – can move forward on a good story, especially in an all-consuming bull market. Copper, oil, uranium, gold and silver still respond to physical supply and demand.
Don’t be fooled. Resources, too, can be emotional, as we saw back in January of 2026. But in resources, price signals are harder to fake. A copper rally, for example, has to contend with actual warehouses, actual mines, actual wiring, actual delivery contracts and actual shortages. AI stocks can move on a story. Copper has to move tonnage.
Right now, copper inventories are falling while demand is rising. New mines take years to permit, finance and build. Existing mines cannot instantly double production.
Meanwhile, copper demand is growing from data centers, electrical grids, EVs, power systems, construction and ordinary wiring.
AI may get the headlines and Klieg lights, but copper would still have a strong case without AI because electrification itself is copper-hungry. Real economy demand and military rearmament are growing alongside the AI buildout.
When copper hits new highs before gold and silver, as it’s currently doing, that’s an early signal that our Grey Swan Resource Investor thesis is accurate: After the first-half 2026 pullback, copper demand and prices are tipping a rebound across the whole resource complex.
Today’s Grey Swan Pro recommendation is a smaller copper play that’s rapidly expanding operations – exactly the kind of company that could thrive if copper prices not only jump on demand now but also trade higher for years to come.
~ Addison