BLBG: Copper Drops to Two-Week Low on Concern Metal Demand to Tumble
By Millie Munshi
Nov. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Copper prices fell to the lowest in two weeks on speculation that a deepening slump in the global economy will slash consumption of industrial metals.
In October, exports from China, the world's biggest metal user, rose at the slowest pace in four months, and U.K. home sales fell to the lowest level in at least three decades, reports showed today. Before today, copper plunged 59 percent from a record in May as consumption waned.
``Grim recessionary stats continue to roll in from all corners of the world,'' Edward Meir, an analyst at M.F. Global Ltd. in Darien, Connecticut, said in a report. ``We do not expect to see any sustainable rallies resulting for a period of time.''
Copper futures for December delivery dropped 6.6 cents, or 3.8 percent, to $1.686 a pound at 9:33 a.m. on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier, the price touched $1.6755, the lowest for a most-active contract since Oct. 27. The metal reached the all-time high of $4.2605 on May 5.
The price jumped as much as 11 percent yesterday after China, the biggest contributor to global growth, announced a $586 billion spending plan to revive its economy. The metal pared gains to close up 3.2 percent.
Enthusiasm ``faded,'' Meir said. ``Participants seem to have refocused on the bleak global macro data.''
On the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months fell $155, or 4 percent, to $3,720 a metric ton ($1.69 a pound).
To contact the reporter on this story: Millie Munshi in New York at mmunshi@bloomberg.net.