Over the past week, Anglo American (LSE:AAL) shares have popped by 14.44%. The move higher has erased all of stock’s losses from the last year, meaning that the FTSE 100 share is now up 7% over this time period. Given the size of the move in such a short time, it’s important for me to understand what’s driving this.
Commodity prices jumping
Anglo American is a global mining company, with large scale production of platinum, copper, nickel, iron ore, and more. Part of what drives revenue for the business is the sales price of the commodities. The higher the market price, the larger the profit margin for Anglo American.
So when I look at the performance of some precious metals and other similar products over the past month, I can see why the stock has rallied. For example, copper is up 8.4%. Platinum has jumped by 4.5%, and nickel is up 3.7%.
China back on the map
Of course, the move in the share price has…


