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Trigger source: every trading day since a copper ETF (CPER) launched in November 2011 where the copper-to-gold ratio closed at a fresh one-year low, with a 90-day gap so the same decline is not double-counted. The ratio is daily CPER close divided by a gold ETF (GLD) daily close.
Data source: Alva SDK adjusted daily closes for CPER, GLD, and the S&P 500 (via SPY). Forward moves are SPY close on the event day compared to SPY close 21, 63, 126, and 252 trading days later — roughly a month, three months, six months, and a year.
The copper-to-gold price ratio is a long-running macro barometer. Copper reflects industrial demand and growth expectations; gold reflects fear, inflation hedging, and rate expectations. When the ratio breaks to a fresh one-year low, it is usually because growth expectations have cooled or fear has spiked — a classic "something is off" signal that investors have historically watched as a recession tell.
We built a daily copper-to-gold ratio from a copper ETF (CPER) divided by a gold ETF (GLD), starting from CPER's November 2011 launch through today. A new event fires when the ratio closes below its lowest print of the prior 252 trading days, with a 90-day cooldown so we do not double-count the same decline.
That rule produced a small number of past events over 15 years, which is the main thing to keep in mind reading this page: the sample is thin, so the medians below should be read as suggestive, not conclusive.
For each past event we took the S&P 500 (via SPY) close on the event day and compared it to SPY close 21, 63, 126, and 252 trading days later — roughly a month, three months, six months, and a year out.
The plain historical average uses the same SPY series and the same horizons, sampled across the same window, so the event number and the plain-average number are measured the same way.
Historical observation only — not investment advice.