Copper is ripping. Traders are front-running Trump's pending decision on tariffs for refined copper imports. Everybody wants their metal inside the country before a tariff hits. So copper is pouring into the US at the fastest pace in at least 12 years. More than 200,000 tons landed at US ports in July. That's the biggest monthly haul on record going back to 2014. Prices are up near $14,000 a ton, a two-month high. The way we'd play this isn't a miner. It's Mueller Industries (MLI). Mueller makes copper tube, fittings, and line sets for HVAC, refrigeration, and construction. That puts it levered directly to copper demand. What separates it from a miner is the balance sheet. Mueller is debt-free and cash-rich. Its sales grew about 19% last quarter. And it just agreed to buy another copper-tube maker. So you get the copper exposure without the baggage the mining names carry. It also tracks the metal about as tightly as anything out there. Look at Mueller against copper futures and Southern Copper on the chart. It moves right alongside both, with much better fundamentals. One thing to keep in mind. Part of this move is traders getting ahead of a tariff that may not land the way they expect. If it doesn't, copper gives some of it back, and Mueller comes in with it. That's the spot to start selling spreads at lower levels. This is a name you'd love to own under 53.
