Zinc and Copper -- Bang, Zoom, To the Moon, Alice!

A couple of stats to spice up your morning oatmeal...

Copper hit a new all-time high yesterday -- $2.60 a pound. Zinc is near its all-time highs. And the momentum is definitely bullish. Why?

Supply squeeze. You have an ongoing strike at Grupo Mexico, Latin America’s second-biggest copper mine. And other once-rich copper mines in South America are now worked out and shutting down. This is squeezing supply even as demand ramps up.

* Demand for copper should rise 5.1% this year to 17.8 million tons, according to a recent survey of analysts. And that’s 100,000 tons MORE than estimated copper production.

Speaking of demand, zinc is so hot that zinc inventories are down by a stunning 30% this year to 276,326 tons. And analysts estimate that demand will exceed production by 466,000 tons.

* Asian economic growth is booming. It’s not just China that’s growing – the International Monetary Fund is raising its growth figures for Japan and the rest of Asia. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me to see China and the rest of Asia exceed their growth targets.

Check out my new gold and energy blog at MoneyAndMarkets.com