Copper rose in London for a third day before a U.S. report on personal spending that may signal growth, boosting demand for industrial metals. Consumer spending rose 0.1 percent after no change the prior month, according to the median forecast of 58 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Incomes climbed 0.5 percent, the biggest increase in a year, the survey also showed. Copper has dropped 7.1 percent this year. “Personal expenditures will be the crucial factor” for industrial metals, said Peter Fertig, owner of Hainburg, Germany-based Quantitative Commodity Research Ltd. Copper for delivery in three months jumped $65, or 1 percent, to $6,835 a metric ton at 12:05 p.m. on the London Metal Exchange. Prices have climbed 4.9 percent in three days, and on June 25 rose to a four-week high of $6,875. Futures for September delivery declined 0.4 percent to $3.099 a pound on the Comex in New York. The personal income and spending reports from the Commerce Department are due at 1:30 p.m. London time. LME copper rose as much as 2.7 percent on June 25, supported by U.S. consumer confidence rising in June to the highest level since January 2008. Prices gained 5.2 percent last week, the most since the week ending Feb. 19, partly on speculation imports by China might increase after the People’s Bank of China indicated on June 19 it would abandon the yuan’s two-year peg to the dollar. The U.S. Dollar Index, a six-currency gauge of the greenback’s strength, slid 0.5 percent last week, making dollar- priced metals cheaper in terms of other monies. The index gained as much as 0.2 percent today. Sovereign-Debt Crisis Copper has dropped this year as the dollar gained and investors speculated that monetary tightening in China and the European sovereign-debt crisis may curb demand. Group of 20 leaders responded to the European debt crisis with deficit-reduction targets and agreed to pursue higher capital requirements for banks once economic recoveries take hold. Stockpiles of copper tracked by the LME fell for a seventh day to 453,175 tons, the lowest level since Dec. 7. Bookings to remove metal from warehouses jumped for a third day to 31,900 tons, the highest since March 3. Copper stockpiles monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange declined 8.8 percent last week to 123,939 tons, the bourse said on June 25. Aluminum for three-month delivery on the LME rose 1 percent to $2,016 a ton. Stockpiles in LME-monitored warehouses dropped for a third consecutive day, down to 4.44 million tons and the lowest since July 13, 2009. Aluminum producers in Henan province, the largest maker of the metal in China, agreed to curtail 700,000 tons of capacity, Wen Xianjun, the deputy head of China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, said today by phone from Beijing. Nickel gained 2.9 percent to $20,325 a ton. Zinc rose 0.5 percent to $1,882 a ton, lead advanced 1.9 percent to $1,849.75 a ton and tin was 0.4 percent higher at $18,200 a ton. To contact the reporter on the story: Anna Stablum in London at astablum@bloomberg.net.

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