I'm betting on a substantial rise in copper prices. It seems like a sure bet to me. As global manufacturing interests are attempting to excite production and governments are attempting to re-energize consumerism, warehouse supplies of copper have been declining.

Yet, this alone is not what piques my interest. Two other significant factors are converging with a reduced copper stockpile, creating what I see as an undeniable, medium-term investment opportunity.

Alexion Pharm (NYSE: ALXN) is a product developer of anti-inflammatory therapeutics, primarily for hematological and cardiovascular discords, autoimmune diseases and cancer. ALXN is recently up $1.35 to $73.81 on unconfirmed & renewed takeover chatter. ALXN has a market cap of $2.7 billion, with long-term debt of $176 million. ALXN had June 2007 total quarterly revenue of $9.6 million. ALXN November option implied volatility of 57 is above its 26-week average of 41 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risks.

Sterlite (NYSE: SLT), a non-ferrous metals and mining company based in India, is recently up $2.47 to $22.10. SLT call option volume of 3,868 contracts compares to put volume of 521 contracts. SLT November option implied volatility of 84 is above its six-week average of 51 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.

Daily options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Wall Street's equity market offers a modest plate this week, with three IPOs and four Secondaries on the docket.

Those deals tentatively scheduled to price include:

IPOs:

Tuesday

• Aldabra 2 Acquisition (ALL.U), a 30M-share IPO for this business finance company. Lazard is the lead manager. Filing price: $10.00
• Sterlite Industries (SLT), a 125M-share IPO for this India-based metals company. Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup are the lead managers. Filing price: $13.85.

Thursday

• Care Investment Trust (CRE), an 18.75M-share IPO for this business finance company. Credit Suisse and Merrill Lynch are the lead managers. Filing range: $15.00-$17.00.