NEW YORK, Feb 23, 2026, 17:49 (ET) — After-hours
- FCX shares added 1.9%, changing hands at $65.55 after hours
- Copper slipped as inventories climbed, but gold leapt higher amid tariff uncertainty.
- U.S. producer price data drops Feb. 27, with the jobs report following on March 6
Shares of Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) traded as high as $65.88 and as low as $63.90 Monday before settling at $65.55 after hours, up 1.9%. Roughly 15.6 million shares changed hands throughout the session.
Metals rallied as traders were jolted by fresh tariff news that rattled risk appetite, sending Wall Street lower. Investors scrambled to assess a new 15% U.S. import tariff after a court tossed out previous duties. “Uncertainty remains high,” said Mark Hackett, chief market strategist at Nationwide. Reuters
Copper, which sits at the core of Freeport’s earnings story, wasn’t offering up a definitive cue. Benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange slipped 0.4% to $12,913 per metric ton after touching its highest level in more than a week earlier in the session. LME warehouse inventories climbed to their strongest level since March 2025, according to a report citing Reuters. “More visible inventories … is a bit of a dampener,” said Nitesh Shah, commodity strategist at WisdomTree. Robert Montefusco of Sucden Financial flagged ongoing demand questions as China’s main futures market is set to reopen Tuesday. Business Recorder
U.S. copper futures saw 84,535 contracts change hands, with open interest slipping by 4,208 from Friday to 270,613 outstanding positions. Each contract represents 25,000 pounds of copper.
Gold surged, giving miners like Freeport—also a gold producer—a fresh lift. Spot prices jumped around 2% to $5,206 an ounce, and April U.S. gold futures settled 2.8% stronger at $5,225.60. Spot silver didn’t lag, moving up 3.2% to $87.23, according to Reuters. Jeffrey Christian, managing partner at CPM Group, flagged the chance for gold to spike further this week as trading activity resumes, with geopolitical tensions and economic concerns stacking up as China’s holiday winds down.
Metals are still moving mostly on rate outlooks. The New York Fed’s Multivariate Core Trend inflation measure climbed to 2.8% in December, up from 2.4% previously, highlighting just how sticky inflation has been above the Fed’s 2% goal. Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan said she was “cautiously optimistic” that inflation would keep cooling, though she added some tariff effects should “start to fade.” Reuters
Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller injected another dose of short-term uncertainty for traders puzzling out rates, the dollar, and commodity moves. Waller described January’s jobs numbers as “a surprise to the upside” and said if February delivers a similar result, he could lean toward pausing at the March Fed meeting. The February jobs report drops March 6, just ahead of the March 17-18 policy gathering. Reuters
Little in the way of fresh corporate headlines Monday, but the market is still working through Freeport’s latest operational disclosure. Back on Feb. 18, the miner revealed it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Indonesia’s government, aiming to secure extended operating rights at PT Freeport Indonesia’s Grasberg complex—pending a revised license. The proposed deal features more exploration commitments and, after 2041, would see Freeport’s stake trimmed. Chairman Richard Adkerson and CEO Kathleen Quirk stressed the value of the company’s “long-standing partnership,” describing Grasberg as “one of the world’s most significant copper and gold deposits.” Q4 Finance
Peers showed a split: Southern Copper climbed nearly 3%, while Newmont tacked on about 1.8% by late Monday.
Still, it’s a shaky setup. Copper’s been volatile, and with inventories piling up and markets watching for China’s post-holiday demand, sentiment could shift fast. Tariff moves are swinging almost daily now. When macro tremors lift the dollar, miners usually feel it most.
Looking ahead, traders have their sights on January’s U.S. producer prices (PPI) due Feb. 27, along with the February U.S. jobs report dropping March 6—both numbers that could shake up rate expectations and hit copper and FCX.
