Primary Nonferrous Metals Prices Break From the Implied Path, Printing 542.9 for July 2026

Correction (2026-09-14): This article originally called the series Copper and Brass Mill Prices. BLS series WPU1022 measures primary nonferrous metals, not that previously stated category. Labels and purchasing scope have been corrected. The original publication date, observation periods, values, and URL are preserved. Any cost example is hypothetical index tracking, not a measured purchasing bill.

Primary Nonferrous Metals Prices printed 542.9 in July 2026, below the month-ahead projection of 588.1 published June 2026 — an 8.3% gap, outside the uncertainty band stated with it. On an unchanged basket costing $250,000 now, a 52.8% year-over-year move is $86,387 added to the same source-index basket (illustrative only, assuming exact index tracking). The print itself was down 2.6% on the month.

• Implied path: 588.1 (published June 2026)
• Printed: 542.9 (July 2026)

The projection was MFG Calcs' statistical continuation of the series' own published history — published in advance on the forecast page, stated with an uncertainty band, never edited afterward — so a gap this size is information: the July 2026 print carried news the trend alone did not. Anyone who penciled July 2026 at the implied level is working 8.3% from the number that actually published.

Every projection is graded when its target month prints; predictions are never revised, and the grade tracks the agency's current figure, so a later restatement of the actual restates the grade with it. Source for the print: BLS Producer Price Index.