Copper swung between gains and losses in New York 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 December delivery was little changed at $3.783 a pound by 7:35 a.m. on the Comex in New York. Prices rose and fell as much as 0.4 percent today and are up 0.7 percent this week. Copper for delivery in three months was little changed at $8,303 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange. 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. In London, aluminum, lead and zinc were lower 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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