LONDON, - The AI stocks meltdown is spilling over into the metals markets as investors rapidly reassess the prospects for data center demand.
Tin, which had been riding the AI wave on the back of its use as an electronic solder, has taken a particularly hard knock after Wall Street lost $3.2 trillion in a single session on Thursday as investors feared Democrats could slow the buildout of AI data centers.
London Metal Exchange three-month tin has slumped from over $50,000 per metric ton to an eight-month low of $45,360 in the space of a week.
The bursting of tin's AI-investment bubble is ironically ill-timed since the market is the tightest it's been in many months.
Even as the outright tin price tumbles, LME time spreads are flaring into wide backwardation, with metal for immediate delivery trading at a premium to later-dated contracts.