Copper Fluctuates in New York on Dollar Movement and U.S. Rebound Concern
Aug. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Edward Morse, head of commodities research at Credit Suisse Group AG, talks about the outlook for agricultural and industrial commodities. Morse also discusses his investment strategy. He speaks from New York with Bloomberg's Susan Li. (Source: Bloomberg)
Copper prices were little changed in New York on concern that economic reports this week may show slowing U.S. growth and as the dollar rallied.
Reports on Aug. 24 and Aug. 25 may show that sales dropped for existing homes in the U.S. and were unchanged for new houses. Builders are the biggest copper users. The metal fluctuated between gains and losses today, following the dollar. Historically, commodities move inversely with the greenback.
“It’s just a very quiet, range-bound market right now,” said Matthew Zeman, a trader at LaSalle Futures Group in Chicago. “People will be watching the housing data this week very closely.”
Copper futures for December delivery settled at $3.3125 a pound, up 0.1 cent, as of 1:23 p.m. on the Comex in New York. Earlier, the price fell as much as 0.6 percent. Copper lost 1.8 percent in the previous two sessions.
Chinese imports of refined copper in July dropped 23 percent from a year earlier, customs data showed today. U.S. jobless benefits jumped to the highest level since November and Philadelphia-area manufacturing shrank for the first time in a year, according to separate reports last week.
“The negative sentiment regarding the U.S. recovery and ongoing doubts over China’s demand resumed their influence over markets last week and will likely hang over them again this week,” Alex Heath, the head of London Metal Exchange trading at RBC Capital Markets in London, said in a daily report.
Gains in equity markets “eased investor concerns regarding the global economy,” Heath said. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added a much as 0.9 percent. Trading in copper today was less than one third of the average during the past 30 days.
The U.S. and China are the world’s largest copper buyers.
On the London Metal Exchange, copper was unchanged at $7,255 a metric ton ($3.29 a pound). Aluminum also was unchanged, while nickel, lead, tin and zinc dropped.
To contact the reporters on this story: Chanyaporn Chanjaroen in London at cchanjaroen@bloomberg.net; Millie Munshi in New York at mmunshi@bloomberg.net;
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