Oct. 24 (MF Global) -- This market comment was written at 8:40 a.m. on October 21st, US east coast time...

Markets finished generally mixed yesterday in very choppy trading yesterday, as focus remained locked on the goings-on in Europe. However, metals were trapped in their own world for much of the day and hardly participated in the modest recovery we saw set in over a number of other markets. The biggest casualty was in copper, where prices lost a whopping 6.5% by the close, setting off substantial weakness in lead, zinc, nickel, and aluminum, with all four metals crashing to fresh 2011 lows. Incredibly, we have snapped back almost as sharply today --copper is now up by almost $370, making up most of yesterday’s losses, and there are broad-based recoveries in the rest of the group as well. The sharp moves are a testimony to the incredible volatility that likely will the more normal state of affairs going forward.