Codelco Weathers Trump Tariff Storm and Moody’s Downgrade (1)

Moody’s downgrade of Chilean copper giant Codelco earlier this week was its fourth such action in just over 15 years — yet investors hardly flinched.

The ratings company cut the world’s top copper producer to Baa2 on Monday, leaving it just two notches above junk, citing Codelco’s investment plans and debt burden. Bonds due 2034 have since fallen about one cent on the dollar to 99.6 cents, but remain up from the month earlier and from lows set in January.

Investors are keeping the faith in state-owned Codelco amid optimism that whatever US President Donald Trump does to revive the ...