The more investment-oriented of the metal markets felt the jitters this week resulting from the sub-prime aftershocks. It was a small earthquake by financial market standards, and the shocks were well attenuated by the central banks' injections of liquidity. The money meant that institutions caught short by the falling values of mortgage-backed securities could borrow enough to balance their books without resorting to fire sales of other assets, say, copper or aluminium positions. The sub-prime business was basically a US problem, some commentators have suggested. But the growth of derivatives and globalisation had allowed institutions around the world to participate in the losses.
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