Dr. Copper Revisited ...

While posting on the latest release by ECRI on US WLI, I started with a curious story on Dr. Copper last Friday. Somebody asserts that ECRI is not using copper prices as a leading indicator, and I have to admit that I may be indeed wrong, as it was mere assumption derived from the fact that ECRI uses "Commodity prices" as a component of leading indicator ...

I was thinking of "Dr. Copper" in the context of this story by Stephen Roach at Morgan Stanley:

Barton Biggs always used to chide me that “Dr. Copper” was his favorite economist -- possessing an uncanny knack to provide a real-time assessment of the state of the global economy. I suspect that the good doctor has now taken his or her finger off the pulse of the real economy and spends far more time looking at Bloomberg screens. Pity the poor patient -- to say nothing of the doctor!

It would be great to see inside the ECRI WLI!