By Matt Day
A pair of U.S. copper fabricators Tuesday asked a federal
appeals court to reverse the Securities and Exchange Commission's
approval of the first U.S. exchange-traded fund that would hold
physical copper.
The proposed ETF would bring about "an investor-financed
squeeze" in the market for copper available for immediate delivery
in the U.S., an attorney for Southwire Co. and Encore Wire Corp.
(WIRE) said in a filing with the Court of Appeals for the District
of Columbia Circuit.
In the filing, Southwire and Encore asked the court to vacate
the SEC's Dec. 14 order approving J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s
(JPM) JPM XF Physical Copper Trust. In that order, the SEC said it
didn't believe that the copper ETF was "likely to disrupt the
supply of copper available for immediate delivery," paving the way
for the product's listing.
J.P. Morgan, which first filed its request for the fund's shares
to list on NYSE Euronext's (NYX) NYSE Arca division in October
2010, declined to comment. The trust would trade like a stock and
its shares would represent ownership of the physical copper stored
on investors' behalf.
Southwire, of Carrollton, Ga., is the largest U.S.-based wire
producer. Encore is a McKinney, Texas-based maker of copper
building wire.
-Tatyana Shumsky contributed to this article.
Write to Matt Day at Matt.Day@dowjones.com
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