July copper futures are expected to open floor trading around 2 cents higher Thursday, based on electronic activity ahead of the pit session on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. In overnight activity, base metals on the London Metal Exchange traded mostly higher in Europe Thursday with dollar weakness providing support, and market participants said the metals are likely to consolidate further. Market participants said the recent weakness, which followed the rise since the start of the year, in copper in particular, could be temporary given ongoing stock drawdowns and the general high number of canceled warrants. In other markets that have the potential to impact metals in the short term, the euro is up to $1.3067 from $1.3002 late Wednesday afternoon. In screen trading ahead of the pit open, the June S&P 500 futures are up 8.60 points to 845.50. June crude is up $1.04 to $49.89 in overnight activity. U.S. economic reports on Thursday include: -April 18 jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT), with weekly claims expected up 30,000 at 640,000; -March existing home sales at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT), with total sales expected down 0.4% at 4.69 million. In New York Wednesday, copper futures finished lower on follow-through selling and profit-taking, but the metal held $2 support and pared its losses as equities stabilized. July copper fell 1.95 cents to settle at $2.0605. Inventories of copper stored in London Metal Exchange warehouses fell 9,625 metric tons Thursday, leaving them at 440,475. The most recent Comex inventory data, released late Wednesday, were unchanged at 47,671 short tons.

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