BLBG:Copper Rises Before Report Projected to Show U.S. Hiring Sped Up
Copper rose in London, heading for a weekly climb, before a report projected to show hiring sped up in the U.S., the world’s second-biggest consumer of the metal.
Employers hired 180,000 people last month, compared with 162,000 in July, economists surveyed by Bloomberg said. Progress in the labor market is one criterion weighed by the Federal Reserve in deciding whether to maintain economic stimulus. Exports from China, the largest copper user, gained in August, a separate survey showed before figures due Sept. 8.
The employment report “is very important in the macro context today,” George Adcock, an analyst at Marex Spectron Group in London, said by e-mail. “The Chinese trade data is likely more relevant.”
Copper for delivery in three months added 1.1 percent to $7,187 a metric ton by 9:34 a.m. on the London Metal Exchange. Prices are up 1.2 percent this week after two weekly retreats. Copper for delivery in December rose 0.8 percent to $3.2715 a pound on the Comex in New York.
“If NFP data come in better than expected, it could put a break on the recovery of the base metals because this makes it more likely that the Fed will start tapering sooner rather than later,” Daniel Briesemann, an analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt, said by e-mail of the employment figures.
The Fed’s policy-making committee will meet Sept. 17-18 to decide whether to keep buying $85 billion of debt a month.
Copper stockpiles monitored by the LME fell 0.5 percent to 600,275 tons, daily exchange data showed. Orders to remove the metal from warehouses declined 1 percent to 285,700 tons.
Workers at Codelco’s Salvador mine in Chile began a strike over pay yesterday. The mine’s output is 76,184 tons of copper a year, compared with an overall figure of 1.7 million tons for Codelco, the world’s biggest producer.
Tin for delivery in three months touched $22,770 a ton, the highest since April 12, on the LME. Prices are on course for the biggest weekly climb in five amid curbs on supplies from Indonesia, the world’s largest exporter.
Nickel reached a one-week high in London. Aluminum, lead and zinc gained.
To contact the reporter on this story: Agnieszka Troszkiewicz in London at atroszkiewic@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net
