Lithium Miners Fund Falls 1.1% to a 12-Month Low | Lithium Wrap, Nov 13
Key Facts
- Twelve-month low: the LIT fund, which holds lithium miners rather than the metal itself, closed Friday, 13 November 2026 at US$58.76, its lowest close of the past 12 months.
- Deep hole: the fund sits 35.9% below its 12-month high of US$91.62, set on 11 May 2026, and has fallen 21.2% in 60 sessions.
- Albemarle: the US lithium giant closed at US$93.53 (-1.39%), 56.6% below its US$215.62 peak of 16 April.
- SQM: Chile’s SQM ended at US$53.61 (-0.52%), its lowest close in at least six months.
- Rates add pressure: the US 10-year Treasury yield rose 31 basis points in five sessions to 5.14%, raising the cost of financing mines and factories.
- Main cause: the cost of money is the best-supported pressure, even though the S&P 500 gained 2.51% over five sessions, so a lithium-specific factor may also be at work.
- Prediction markets: Polymarket, a real-money prediction market, prices an 88.5% chance of a 0.25-point Federal Reserve rate rise in December (US$33.0 million traded, 8:05 p.m. ET, 13 November).
Today’s Focus
Lithium shares fell again on Friday, 13 November 2026, and the LIT fund (-1.13%) closed at its lowest level in at least a year. The fund holds mining and battery-metal companies, so it measures how investors value the industry, not the price of the metal itself.
The main cause we can support is the cost of money: the 10-year US yield stands at 5.14% and the dollar index at 103.41. The fund’s 21.2% fall over 60 sessions began well before this week, so part of the slide is specific to lithium and we could not confirm its cause.
Higher US interest rates made it worse. The 10-year yield rose 31 basis points in five sessions, and mining companies that borrow heavily to expand feel that first.
For Latin America this matters because Chile, Argentina and Bolivia hold much of the world’s lithium. Lower prices cut export income and slow the new projects that governments are counting on.
What matters today. Lithium shares are at a 12-month low while stocks overall hold up, so watch whether yields stop climbing before the lithium shares do.
01 The session in one read
Lithium stocks ended the week at the bottom of their year. The LIT fund fell -1.13%, its second straight drop, and is 3.53% lower than five sessions ago.
Albemarle (-1.39%) and SQM (-0.52%) both slipped, which fits a sector-wide story rather than a company-specific one. Lithium is the light grey metal in electric-car batteries, so these shares rise and fall on expectations for car sales and for new mines.
The slide looks like a slow repricing rather than a rush for the exits, because stocks overall are holding up while lithium names fall steadily. Rising yields are an accelerant; the root cause is unconfirmed. The variable to watch is the 10-year US yield, and whether the lithium names stabilise once it stops rising.
02 The board
The three names tell the same story at different speeds. Albemarle is down 5.76% over five sessions, and SQM has lost 6.80% over the same stretch.
Over a month SQM is the weaker of the two, down 10.95% in 20 sessions against 2.04% for Albemarle. Albemarle has already fallen further from its peak, so it has less left to lose before it reaches the low it set earlier this month.
| Asset | Level | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Lithium (LIT ETF) | US$58.76 | -1.13% |
| Albemarle | US$93.53 | -1.39% |
| SQM | US$53.61 | -0.52% |
Source: RT close, 2026-11-13. Where a commodity has no spot feed, an exchange-traded tracker or leading producer is shown as a labelled proxy.
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Latin America — Cross-Market Board
| Instrument | Last | Change | YoY | Prev. | High | Low | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IBOV | 172,457.76 | +0.66% | +9.73% | 171,324.31 | 172,715 | 171,132 | — |
| IPSA | 10,660.94 | +0.34% | — | 10,625.19 | 10,699 | 10,624 | — |
| IPC MEX | 71,610.23 | -0.28% | +13.87% | 71,811.20 | 71,981 | 71,044 | 149,701,210 |
| MERVAL | 2,848,945 | — | -10.97% | 2,859,051 | — | — | — |
| COLCAP | 2,452.46 | -0.02% | — | — | — | — | — |
| USD/BRL | 5.67 | +0.45% | +7.09% | 5.64 | 5.67 | 5.63 | — |
| EUR/BRL | 6.25 | +0.93% | +1.93% | 6.19 | 6.26 | 6.21 | — |
| USD/MXN | 18.52 | -0.42% | +1.29% | 18.60 | 18.63 | 18.51 | — |
| USD/CLP | 994.16 | -0.13% | +6.95% | 995.48 | 1,002 | 993.78 | — |
| USD/COP | 3,302 | +0.70% | -10.86% | 3,279 | 3,331 | 3,302 | — |
| USD/PEN | 3.40 | -0.16% | +0.77% | 3.41 | 3.41 | 3.39 | — |
| USD/ARS | 1,544 | -0.11% | +9.58% | 1,545 | 1,548 | 1,543 | — |
| USD/UYU | 40.59 | +2.33% | +3.41% | 39.67 | 40.59 | 40.52 | — |
| USD/PYG | 6,196 | +2.33% | -10.79% | 6,055 | 6,196 | 6,185 | — |
| USD/BOB | 11.59 | -0.37% | +72.02% | 11.63 | 11.60 | 11.55 | — |
| USD/DOP | 60.59 | +1.85% | -5.40% | 59.49 | 60.61 | 60.27 | — |
| USD/CRC | 442.74 | -0.10% | -9.70% | 443.16 | 445.25 | 442.74 | — |
| USD/GTQ | 7.64 | +2.06% | +2.02% | 7.49 | 7.65 | 7.64 | — |
03 Why it moved
Cause one, and the best supported, is the cost of money. The US 10-year yield stands at 5.14% and the dollar index rose 1.09% in five sessions to 103.41, which makes mining finance dearer and commodities priced in dollars costlier for foreign buyers.
The conflicting signal is that the S&P 500 stands at 7,562 and rose 2.51% in five sessions, so this is not a general risk-off day. Gold, another rate-sensitive asset, fell 4.58% over the same stretch as traders bet on rate rises, which supports the rates explanation as a secondary factor.
Our confidence is low to medium. Rates and the dollar fit the timing, but we could not identify a lithium-specific cause or confirm Friday’s spot lithium price.
From the RT economic calendar: US producer prices rose 0.3% in October against 0.4% expected, and the core measure, which strips out food and energy, rose 0.3% as forecast, or 5.0% on the year. The 10-year Treasury yield still rose to 5.14%, so the milder headline reading did not ease the pressure. China, the main buyer of lithium for batteries, had no major calendar release on Friday.
04 The trend behind it
This is a continuation, not a new phase. The LIT fund has lost 8.26% in 20 sessions and is 35.9% below its May high, while Albemarle lost 30.3% and SQM 31.7% in 60 sessions.
Our own price history offers a measured counterweight. After earlier falls of this size, the LIT fund was higher 20 sessions later in 27 of 51 cases (53%), with a median gain of 0.8% and a worst case of 14.9% lower. SQM was higher in 41 of 73 cases (56%) after falls this deep, though its worst case was 39.8% lower. History is not a forecast.
05 What it means for Latin America
Chile feels this most directly. SQM is its flagship lithium producer, and falling profits mean less income for the company and, through royalties and taxes, for the state.
Argentina, which is attracting foreign money for its salt-flat projects, risks seeing expansion plans delayed as financing gets dearer. Bolivia holds huge deposits but has yet to produce at scale, so lower prices weaken its case to foreign partners.
For investors in São Paulo, Mexico City or Lima, the lesson is that a commodity boom story can fade even while the long-term demand story, electric vehicles, stays intact.
06 The names to watch
Albemarle is the bellwether. Its low close of US$90.19 on 3 November sits only 3.7% below Friday’s level, so a close beneath it would open a fresh leg down.
SQM is the Latin American test. Its year-ago low of US$53.20 is just 0.8% below Friday’s close, making that line the nearest floor to watch.
07 What would end it
The fall ends when buyers return. The clearest sign would be yields stabilising and the lithium names holding above Friday’s low.
On the charts, the LIT fund is sitting on its 12-month low, so any fresh close lower is a new low by definition. The first hurdle on a rebound is the round US$60 mark, and the 12-month high is far away.
A calmer US bond market would also help, since the 31-basis-point jump in yields has hurt every rate-sensitive asset. We cannot promise this stops soon, but the combination of stretched falls and a weaker dollar would be the first honest sign.
08 What to watch
- Yields and the dollar: Whether the 10-year yield at 5.14% stops rising decides whether the lithium names find a floor.
- US yields: The 10-year yield at 5.14% is the cost-of-money gauge; a retreat would ease pressure on miners.
- Albemarle’s floor: A close below US$90.19 would break its 3 November low.
- SQM’s floor: A close under US$53.20 would breach its year-ago low and signal deeper stress for Chile’s lithium champion.
What Prediction Markets Say
Polymarket, where users bet real money, lists a market on the Federal Reserve’s December decision, with US$33.0 million traded as of 8:05 p.m. ET, 13 November 2026. It prices a 0.25-point rise at 88.5%, a 0.5-point or larger rise at 7.7%, no change at 2.5%, a 0.25-point cut at 0.4% and a 0.5-point or larger cut at 0.2%.
These prices are bets, not polls. They show traders expect the Fed, the US central bank, to raise interest rates again in December.
Why we show this: prediction markets turn real-money bets into a live probability that moves within minutes of the news, which is why investors, campaigns and newsrooms in the United States now follow them closely. We show them next to polls and official results, never instead of them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the LIT fund the lithium price?
No. LIT holds shares of lithium-related companies, so it reflects investor expectations as well as the metal’s price.
Why are lithium stocks falling?
Higher US interest rates and a firmer dollar are the best-supported pressures; we could not confirm a lithium-specific cause.
Who loses most in Latin America?
Chile, through SQM and royalty income, and Argentina, whose new brine projects need cheap financing.
Does a fall like this usually reverse?
Not reliably. In our history the LIT fund was higher 20 sessions later in 53% of comparable cases, with a median gain of just 0.8%.
Market data: The Rio Times
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated AI newsroom. Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief. The Rio Times also runs Ask Rio Times, which answers from 100,000+ of our own articles, the daily Latin America Power Map, and prediction-market odds on elections and markets.. How we use AI · Report an error
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