Producers of metals and other raw materials fell as tariff fears overshadowed earnings.

Shares of Freeport McMoRan declined after the miner forecast slightly lower sales of copper in 2025. Alcoa shares fell despite higher quarterly earnings, amid concerns the market for the industrial metal would be disrupted by U.S. levies. U.S. tariffs on Canadian imports would undermine America's industrial competitiveness by increasing the cost of aluminum by $1.5 billion to $2 billion a year, Alcoa Chief Executive William Oplinger warned.

President Trump and his allies used the World Economic Forum to double down on tariff threats. "My message to every business in the world is very simple: Come make your product in America and we will give you among the lowest taxes of any nation on Earth," he said in a video address. "But if you don't make your product in America, which is your prerogative, then, very simply, you will have to pay a tariff."

Fortescue reported a rise in second-quarter iron-ore shipments, and said first-half exports of the steel ingredient were the highest in its history. With a new steel mill still ramping up in southern Texas and an aluminum rolling plant under construction in Mississippi, Steel Dynamics Chief Executive Mark Millett said he doesn't have much of an appetite for acquisitions.

Salzgitter said it is in talks with top shareholder GP Guenter Papenburg and metal-recycling company TSR Recycling about a potential takeover after they made an approach that values the German steelmaker at about $1.2 billion.

Write to Rob Curran at rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 23, 2025 17:51 ET (22:51 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.