between 2006 and 2012, copper price could swing wildly and was highly tradable. past few months, price has been rather stable at around 2.6 level.
Jesus, why didn't they think of THAT? it might be because they want to monitor high resolution photos of plant operations in semi-real time.
It is eerily similar to counting railroad cars. The SEC bought insider trading charges and lost in court. https://www.compliancebuilding.com/2014/02/06/working-on-the-railroad-is-not-insider-trading/ Be not surprised if SEC lawyers have not learned their lesson and will try again to bring an insider trading lawsuit.
They've been doing this kind of stuff for years. Everything from counting cars in parking lots (via live satellite) of various retail operations like Target or CMG... to studying the draft and waterlines on oil freighters to see how much they're hauling. Anything for an edge.
@vanzandt beat me to it, but monitoring tanker movements and load levels by satellite has been widely used for years as both a lead indicator of wider economic activity and also for helping to forecast freight rates and thus income for shipping companies. The other one is counting cranes across city skylines to help with forecasting development activity, and Real Estate Company valuations.