By Chanyaporn Chanjaroen May 26 (Bloomberg) -- Copper rose in New York and London on signs of an improving economy in the U.S., the world’s second- biggest consumer. Orders for factory goods in the country rose more than economists estimated in April, a report showed. Separate figures may show that new-home sales were the highest since September 2008. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development raised its forecast for growth in the U.S. economy. The durable-goods figures “have a positive ring” and helped to lift prices, said Nick Mellor, an analyst at Ambrian Partners Ltd. in London. “Still, I don’t expect that to change sentiment” about issues such as Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis, he said. Copper for July delivery advanced 5.15 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $3.0935 a pound at 9:02 a.m. on the Comex in New York. Copper for delivery in three months rose 1.6 percent to $6,840 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange. All of the six main metals traded on the LME climbed. Comex copper has declined 7.8 percent in May, heading for a second consecutive monthly drop. Prices have slid on concern about euro-zone nations’ ability to reduce budget deficits and potential steps by China, the world’s biggest user of the metal, to restrain its surging economy. ‘Very Cautious’ “All these issues that people are concerned about -- Europe, China -- are still out there,” said Michael Widmer, a strategist at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch in London. He remains “very cautious” on the outlook for LME metals. Widmer maintained his forecast for LME copper to average $6,950 a ton in the third quarter, implying an 11 percent drop from the $7,800 predicted for the current period. Still, Chinese demand for commodities including copper will increase over the next 15 years, Jan du Plessis, chairman of Rio Tinto Group, the world’s third-largest mining company, said today at its annual meeting in Melbourne. Orders for durable goods in the U.S. increased 2.9 percent in April, more than the 1.3 percent estimated in a Bloomberg survey of economists. A Commerce Department report due at 10 a.m. in Washington may show that new-home sales climbed to an annual rate of 425,000. OECD Forecast The U.S. economy will expand 3.2 percent in 2010 and next year, the OECD said, above the 2.5 percent predicted in November. The Conference Board’s index of U.S. consumer confidence rose to 63.3 this month, according to a report yesterday from the private research group, exceeding all estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Inventories of copper tracked by the LME slipped for a seventh day to 479,050 tons, headed for a third monthly drop in a row. Including those monitored by commodity exchanges in Shanghai and New York, they totaled 738,789 tons, the lowest since February. Bookings to remove metal from LME-registered warehouses fell 4.4 percent to 24,875 tons. Aluminum for three-month delivery on the LME added 1.3 percent to $2,043 a ton. Alcoa Inc., the largest U.S. producer of the lightweight metal, faces a strike threat as the May 31 deadline to renew a labor contract covering 6,000 workers at 11 plants across the U.S. nears. Failure to reach a deal may lead to the first strike at the factories since a 31-day stoppage in 1986, according to the union. The plants account for more than a quarter of Alcoa’s worldwide smelting capacity. Zinc climbed 2.5 percent to $1,900 a ton and lead increased 2.7 percent to $1,791.50 a ton. Tin added 1 percent to $17,775 a ton and nickel rose 1.4 percent to $21,500 a ton. --With assistance from Courtney Schlisserman in Washington, Edmond Lococo in Boston and Andrew Hobbs in Sydney. Editors: Dan Weeks, John Deane. To contact the reporter on this story: Chanyaporn Chanjaroen in London at cchanjaroen@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stuart Wallace at swallace6@bloomberg.net.

Source