--Comex March copper is down 1% at $3.8040/lb --U.S. weekly jobless claims were down 12,000 to 367,000 --Caution ahead of Fed Chairman Bernanke's testimony muffles copper By Tatyana Shumsky Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Copper futures pared losses on a strong weekly U.S. employment report, but prices remained under pressure from a stronger dollar and caution ahead of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony before Congress. The most actively traded contract, for March delivery, was recently down 3.80 cents, or 1%, at $3.8040 a pound on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The number of U.S. workers filing initial claims for jobless benefits fell by 12,000 to 367,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday. The data shows signs of continued improvement in the labor market as economists say weekly claims must remain consistently below the 400,000 mark for the economy to add jobs. Copper futures had grazed lows of $3.7845 a pound ahead of the data, but shook off some of the declines after the report. Copper is sensitive to employment data as the labor market is a key indicator of economic health, and improvement there indicates a likely uptick in future demand for the industrial metal. Copper is widely used in manufacturing and construction and employed consumers have more income to spend on everyday goods like laptops, cars and houses. Market participants have now turned their attention to the upcoming monthly U.S. employment data, due out Friday morning. "Tomorrow is the big monthly unemployment number and this tends to make the markets a bit nervous and send traders to the sidelines," said Sterling Smith, analyst with Country Hedging. A stronger dollar also pressured copper prices lower. Copper is priced in dollars and tends to appear more expensive to investors who use other currencies when the greenback strengthens, damping their interest in the metal. Copper prices also edged lower as some investors moved to the sidelines ahead of Fed chairman Bernanke's testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives budget committee, due to start later Thursday. The slow pace of Greek debt restructuring talks turned up the pressure on growth-sensitive assets like copper. Greek officials are negotiating to ease the country's debt load at the same time as trying to reform their economy in order to qualify for the next installment of bailout aid. "There are some difficulties going forward and we are not going to see a plan sooner rather than later, and this is making risk assets a little nervy," Smith said. -By Tatyana Shumsky, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-3095; tatyana.shumsky@dowjones.com

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