NEW YORK--Copper futures inched into positive territory Friday after U.S. third-quarter growth data came in above expectations.
The most actively traded contract, for December delivery, was recently up 1.40 cents, or 0.4%, at $3.5645 a pound on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
U.S. gross domestic product, the broadest measure of all the goods and services produced by the economy, expanded by 2% during the third quarter, beating forecasts of 1.8% growth.
Copper is widely used by manufacturing and construction, two applications that leave its price highly sensitive to expectations of economic growth.
Copper futures had traded in negative territory ahead of the 8:30 a.m. EDT data and traders were slow to react to the release, with six minutes lapsing before futures peeked into positive territory.
-Write to Tatyana Shumsky at tatyana.shumsky@dowjones.com
