Copper swung between gains and losses in London before U.S. employment data is released later today. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said yesterday the bank is ready to start buying government bonds as part of a program to help ease borrowing costs for the region’s debt- ridden nations. Central banks from the U.S. to China have pledged more action to boost economic growth. Economists expect a report today may show U.S. payrolls rose last month. “Copper probably will go up if more jobs are created,� Herwig Schmidt, head of sales at Triland Metals Ltd. in London, said today by phone. Stimulus helps copper “in the form of investment because of so much money around. It’s liquidity holding it up. It won’t hold it forever.� Copper for delivery in three months was little changed at $8,297.25 a metric ton by 11:38 a.m. on the London Metal Exchange. Prices rose as much as 0.5 percent and fell as much as 0.3 percent today and are up 1.1 percent this week. The metal for December delivery declined 0.1 percent to $3.783 a pound on the Comex in New York. U.S. payrolls probably rose by 115,000 in September, up from 96,000 in the prior month, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg before the Labor Department data today. The jobless rate is estimated to be 8.2 percent, compared with 8.1 percent in August. Copper inventories monitored by the LME, down 40 percent this year, fell 0.3 percent to 222,675 tons, daily exchange figures showed. Orders to remove the metal from warehouses increased 29 percent to 54,750 tons. Markets in China are closed this week for the National Day holiday. Aluminum, lead and zinc were lower in London and tin and nickel gained. To contact the reporter on this story: Nicholas Larkin at nlarkin1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net

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