Alternative Indicators: What’s Dr. Copper’s Prognosis for the U.S. Economy? episode artwork

EPISODE · Nov 12, 2025 · 11 MIN

Alternative Indicators: What’s Dr. Copper’s Prognosis for the U.S. Economy?

from WSJ What’s News · host The Wall Street Journal

Economists and investors have long turned to copper as a reliable economic indicator: High prices meant the economy was humming, and low prices meant it wasn’t. That’s in part because copper is useful for so many economic activities. In fact, copper was considered such a good signal that investors gave it a nickname—Dr. Copper. But now, as high demand and tariffs affect copper prices, is the commodity’s relationship with the economy becoming blurry? Host Alex Ossola discusses this with Dec Mullarkey, head of investment strategy and asset allocation at SLC Management. This is part two of our four-part series on alternative economic indicators. Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Further Listening Alternative Indicators: Can Nevada Employment Predict Where the Economy is Headed? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Nov 12, 2025

Embed this episode

Ready to play

Alternative Indicators: What’s Dr. Copper’s Prognosis for the U.S. Economy?

0:00 11:11

No transcript for this episode yet

We transcribe on demand. Request one and we'll notify you when it's ready — usually under 10 minutes.

No similar episodes found.

No similar podcasts found.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is this episode of WSJ What’s News?

This episode is 11 minutes long.

When was this WSJ What’s News episode published?

This episode was published on November 12, 2025.

Can I download this WSJ What’s News episode?

Yes. Use the download control on the episode player to save the publisher-provided media file.
URL copied to clipboard!