Rising precious-metals prices poured cold water on interest in gold and silver coins in February. Sales of gold American Eagle coins at the U.S. Mint plummeted 83% to just 21,000…

By TATYANA SHUMSKY And YUE LI For Chinese copper-cable salesman Liu Jiang, the year of the dragon has yet to deliver good fortune. Mr. Liu works for a Jiangsu-province-based company…

By TATYANA SHUMSKY NEW YORK—A study that showed copper kills bacteria on contact points to an expansion of possible uses for the industrial metal, which is already found in a…

By TATYANA SHUMSKY And CHRIS DIETERICH NEW YORK—Signals from the options market are casting doubt on the assumption that gold is a safe place to store wealth, with a gauge of gold-price volatility…

By TATYANA SHUMSKY And MATT DAY NEW YORK–Metal manufacturers are raiding the scrap heap to save money, pushing up demand–and prices–for recycled metal. Scrap prices are rising faster than primary…