BLBG: Copper Heads to Worst 3-Day Drop Since January as Demand Wilts
Copper prices fell, heading for the steepest three-day decline since January, on speculation that the global recession will deepen and cut raw-materials demand.
The MSCI World Index of equities fell today as bank losses renewed concern that the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression may continue to erode global growth. A global surplus of refined copper will widen through at least 2010 as use drops “significantly,” the International Copper Study Group said yesterday in a report.
“The major reason that copper is falling is that people are just worried about the economy,” said Patrick Chidley, an analyst at Barnard Jacobs Mellet LLC in Stamford, Connecticut. Falling equities and declines in company profits have provided “a reality check with what’s going to happen with growth.”
Copper futures for July delivery dropped 4.4 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $2.036 a pound at 8:58 a.m. on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. A close at that price would mark a three-day drop of 7.3 percent, the most since Jan. 22.
On the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months fell $80, or 1.8 percent, to $4,427 a ton ($2.01 a pound). The price reached a record $8,940 on July 2.
