Freeport Shares Inch Higher On Strike News

Shares of Freeport McMoRan FCX, the largest U.S. copper miner, are higher by almost 1% today on news the company and workers at a major Indonesian copper mine are close to ratifying a new pay deal that will end a three-month strike there that has crippled output. Production at the Grasberg mine, the world's second-largest copper mine, ceased in October amid the labor strife. The two sides have agreed to a pay rise of 37 percent over two years to end Indonesia's longest-running industrial dispute, including a 24 percent rise in the first year, Reuters reported citing a spokesman from Freeport's Indonesian union. Phoenix-based Freeport didn't comment on the speculation. Copper prices have tumbled this year due to concerns regarding Chinese demand and Europe's sovereign debt crisis. Shares of Freeport are down roughly 35% year-to-date while the Global X Copper Miners ETF COPX is down 30% and the iPath DJ-UBS Copper TR Sub-Index ETN JJC is off more than 25%.