Jul 24, 2026
The board splits by metal today: LME lead stocks sit pinned at a 19-year peak while COMEX gold cover keeps thinning, two inventory stories running in opposite directions.
LME lead stocks read 449,325 mt, the 100th percentile of a 19-year record, and up 49.5% over 30 days. The level is as extreme as the series gets, yet the day itself was flat, so the entire 19-year high was built over the month, not the session.
Gold and copper diverge cleanly on the COMEX board. Copper stocks pushed to a 6-month high at 704,539 short tons, up 7.4% over 30 days, while total gold slid to a 6-month low at 27.01M oz, down 3.1% over the same stretch. Metal flowing in one door, out the other.
The gold story is about cover, not just tonnage. Coverage fell to 38.4%, a 6-month low sitting at the 9th percentile, down 13.0% over 30 days, and registered gold hit its own 6-month low at 14.75M oz. Silver ran the other way: coverage at 18.3% and deliverable share at 29.2%, both near the top of their short record.
SPR crude adds the macro anchor at 311.4 MM bbl, the lowest since March 1983 and down 8.5% over 30 days. What the data shows is a board where the biggest levels are lead's ceiling and oil's 44-year floor, and where gold's shrinking cover ratio is the mechanism worth tracking: thinner deliverable metal behind each paper claim.
LME lead stocks stand at 449,325 mt, the top of a 19-year record and up 49.5% over 30 days. The day was flat, so the entire climb to this peak happened over the month.
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve holds 311.4 MM bbl, its lowest level since March 1983. It fell 1.6% on the week and 8.5% over 30 days.
COMEX total gold stocks eased to 27.01M oz, a 6-month low, down 0.2% on the day and 3.1% over 30 days.
Gold coverage, the deliverable metal backing each paper claim, dropped to 38.4%, a 6-month low. It is down 13.0% over 30 days and sits at the 9th percentile of its short record.
COMEX copper stocks rose to 704,539 short tons, a 6-month high, up 0.3% on the day and 7.4% over 30 days.
Registered gold, the metal actually available for delivery, fell to 14.75M oz, a 6-month low, down 0.6% on the day and 1.6% over the month.
Silver coverage climbed to 18.3%, a 6-month high near the top of its short record, up 14.6% over 30 days but flat on the day.
The deliverable share of COMEX silver reached 29.2%, a 6-month high, up 9.2% over 30 days. The opposite direction from gold's shrinking cover.
Sources: CME Group COMEX warehouse reports, LME warehouse data, EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report, ETF issuer filings, and venue price quotes. Every figure is computed straight from the stored source data; percentiles rank today's level against the series' full record.