Copper fell for a fourth day in New York, heading for the longest string of declines this year, on speculation that the U.S. economic stimulus plan won’t revive growth and demand will decline further. President Barack Obama’s stimulus plan won’t halt the biggest U.S. economic decline since 1946, a Bloomberg News survey of 50 analysts shows. A $789 billion stimulus bill may pass Congress this week after lawmakers agreed on a compromise version yesterday. Copper tumbled 5.4 percent in the previous three sessions on concern consumption will fall. “The base metals are drifting and generally treading water again today as the markets digest the detail” of the stimulus bill, Alex Heath, the head of industrial metals at RBC Capital Markets in London, said today in a report. “The early disappointment from the plan lingers on.” Copper futures for March delivery fell 2.15 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $1.5185 a pound at 9:19 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange’s Comex division. The metal pared declines after a report showed U.S. retail sales rose 1 percent in January, halting a record six-month slide. Sales were projected to drop 0.8 percent, the median estimate of 72 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of the U.S. economy. On the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months fell $85, or 2.5 percent, to $3,374 a metric ton ($1.53 a pound). The price reached a record $8,940 on July 2.

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