Copper rose for a second day as a jump in U.S. retail sales provided additional evidence of sustained economic growth, tempering concern that the recovery is faltering.
Retail sales in the U.S. climbed 0.5 percent in July, the most in four months, showing consumers are holding up even as employment slows. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed as much as 1.4 percent. Most raw materials rose. The U.S. is the world’s second-largest copper user, after China.
“Copper is acknowledging the fact that the economy is slightly improving,” Phil Streible, a senior strategist at MF Global Holdings Ltd., said in a telephone interview. “Copper has strictly ignored its own fundamentals and has been 100 percent focused on macroeconomic data and the stock market in the past week.”
Copper futures for September delivery rose 0.9 cent, or 0.2 percent, to $4.039 a pound at 9:56 a.m. on the Comex in New York. Yesterday, the price jumped 3 percent, the most since March, after claims for unemployment-insurance payments unexpectedly fell in the U.S.
On the London Metal Exchange, copper for three-month delivery rose $24, or 0.3 percent, to $8,905 a metric ton ($4.04 a pound).
Before today, copper climbed 23 percent in the past year as th world’s mining companies struggled to keep pace with rising consumption. Falling ore grades, labor disputes and adverse weather have cut output at mines owned by BHP Billiton Ltd. and Rio Tinto Group, while demand from China is forecast to rebound as consumers start to restock.
Earlier this week, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. predicted the metal will rise to $11,000 in 12 months, citing “supply disappointments.”
Aluminum, lead, nickel and zinc also rose in London.
