Freeport McMoRan Copper ( FCX ), the world's largest copper miner, is set to release its Q3 earnings on Tuesday, October 22. The majority of the company's revenues are derived from copper sales, which is extremely sensitive to cyclical industries such as construction and industrial machinery manufacturing. These industries in turn are heavily influenced by the macroeconomic sentiment and outlook. Macroeconomic factors in the third quarter have shown some improvement, especially as far as China is concerned. Therefore, copper prices on the London Metal Exchange increased gradually throughout the third quarter. Still, Freeport is likely to report lower year-over-year copper revenues due to much lower prices in Q3 2013 as compared to Q3 2012.

 

However, supply disruptions this year are now expected be much below historical levels. This will lead to a higher supply surplus than earlier expected. A higher surplus, in turn, will lead to lower copper prices going forward, thus having a negative impact on Freeport's revenues.