July copper futures are expected to open floor trading around 7 cents a pound lower Tuesday, based on electronic activity ahead of the pit session on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Copper and other base metals are lower in London on a bout of risk reduction in equities and commodities generally, traders there said. In other markets that have the potential to impact metals in the short term, the euro is down to $1.2970 from $1.3033 late Monday afternoon. In screen trading ahead of the pit open, the June S&P 500 futures are down 15.30 points to 841.50. June crude oil is down $1.26 to $48.88 a barrel in overnight activity. On the U.S. economic front, the February Case-Shiller Home Price is due out at 9 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT), with the Richmond Federal Reserve's manufacturing index and Conference Board's Consumer-Confidence Index due out at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT). April consumer confidence is forecast at a 29 reading, up from 26 the prior month. A two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee begins, with the post-meeting statement scheduled for release Wednesday afternoon. In New York Monday, copper prices closed lower as worries about demand, a swine-flu outbreak and stronger U.S. dollar added to some of the recent downward correction. July copper fell 6.45 cents to settle at $1.9855 per pound. Inventories of copper stored in London Metal Exchange warehouses fell 5,000 metric tons Tuesday, leaving them at 420,275. The most recent Comex inventory data, released late Monday afternoon, were up 500 short tons at 48,056 short tons.

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