Copper vs the S&P 500 (CPER): is it outperforming?
Over the past month, CPER has underperformed the S&P 500 by 0.6 points. Here is where that puts it in the market rotation — updated daily.
Where CPER sits on the rotation map
Copper highlighted against the 11 broad S&P 500 sectors. Vertical: 1-month spread vs the S&P 500. Horizontal: the longer, time-shifted window — the methodology explains the math.
CPER vs SPY: head-to-head returns
CPER (copper) and SPY (the S&P 500) side by side over every window Zensei tracks. The spread is the difference — positive means CPER won that window.
Data as of 2026-07-23 · computed from daily adjusted closes · how we measure
The read
Copper (CPER) is out of favor: it trails the S&P 500 on both rotation windows — 0.6 points behind over the past month and 0.3 points behind over the longer, time-shifted window. That is the lagging quadrant. Ranked by one-month spread, it currently stands #73 of the 115 groups Zensei tracks.
On the shorter tape, CPER's momentum is mixed: the longer intraday trend is still positive, but the recent windows have gone flat. CPER's relative-strength line — its price ratio against the S&P 500 — is trading above its moving averages, the healthiest configuration we track. The longer trend remains healthier than the recent tape suggests — the kind of divergence worth rechecking in a week.
The thing to watch from here is the one-month spread: laggards only become interesting when the recent window turns positive first — until then, the market is voting elsewhere.
Copper vs the market — common questions
Is copper outperforming the S&P 500?
Right now, no: over the past month CPER has underperformed the S&P 500 by 0.6 points. This page updates daily, so the answer reflects current market data rather than a dated article.
What is CPER?
CPER is United States Copper Index Fund, the fund Zensei uses to measure the copper group against the S&P 500 benchmark (SPY).
What quadrant is copper in right now?
As of the latest daily data, copper is in the lagging quadrant — trailing the S&P 500 on both windows. The quadrant rules are documented on the Zensei methodology page.
Related sectors
Track copper against the whole market
Zensei Edge maps 100+ sectors and themes against the S&P 500 — with the stocks inside each one, rotation history and alerts when leadership changes hands.