"The direction of the market is being determined by the sluggish demand picture we're seeing," said William O'Neill, senior futures strategist with Merrill Lynch.

Lumber inventories are ample and wholesalers are buying from mills only what they need to meet immediate, sluggish demand, said William O'Neill, senior futures strategist with Merrill Lynch Futures.

"There's plenty of Soviet jitters on the market right now," said William O'Neill, senior futures strategist with Merrill Lynch Futures in New York.

And increased mine production of copper will bring greater supplies to the market in the first half of 1996, said William O'Neill, senior futures strategist at Merrill Lynch Futures.

"It's the classic case of putting too many eggs in one basket and not hedging your bets," said William O'Neill, senior futures strategist at Merrill Lynch Futures in New York.

"The recent lows below $3.60 will prove to be the bottom for quite a long period of time," said William O'Neill, senior futures strategist at Merrill Lynch Futures.

"Stocks of natural gas are 14.7 percent below the year-ago level, so we're faced with a tight situation," said William O'Neill, senior futures strategist with Merrill Lynch.

William O'Neill, senior futures strategist at Merrill Lynch & Company, said the decline was prompted by heavy selling by several funds.

"It's like crying wolf," said William O'Neill, the senior futures strategist with Merrill Lynch Futures.

William O'Neill, senior futures strategist at Merrill Lynch & Company, said, "You should be careful about becoming too bullish, because the global economic outlook is not a positive for precious metals."