Copper fell for the second straight day after payroll data added to signs of fragile economic growth in the U.S., the world’s second-biggest metal user. Companies added fewer jobs in July than economists projected, and overall employment fell more than forecast, government data showed today. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.5 percent. Global refined-copper demand fell 3.2 percent in April from March, according to the International Copper Study Group. “Metal demand should continue to disappoint,” said David Thurtell, an analyst at Citigroup Inc. in London. The jobs report “just says that the recovery remains a weak one,” he said. Copper futures for September delivery fell 1.05 cents, or 0.3 percent, to close at $3.343 a pound at 1:25 p.m. on the Comex in New York. Yesterday, the price dropped 1.5 percent after reaching a three-month high of $3.4105 on Aug. 4. Weaker-than-forecast growth in private payrolls is “leading to a slower recovery,” said Phil Streible, a senior market strategist at Lind-Waldock, a broker in Chicago. “I don’t expect to see a massive amount of growth coming out of Europe either.” Copper may fall to $3 in the next month, Streible said. China is the world’s largest consumer. The metal, up 1 percent this week, has climbed 21 percent in the past year. On the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months slipped $29, or 0.4 percent, to $7,370 a metric ton ($3.34 a pound). Aluminum and lead also declined in London. Zinc, nickel, and tin climbed. To contact the reporters on this story: Claudia Carpenter in London at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net; Yi Tian in New York at Ytian8@bloomberg.net.

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