Copper Futures Fall for Second Straight Day as Equities Drop

NEW YORK, Aug. 12 -- Copper prices fell for the second straight day as declining U.S. equities spurred concern that the economy will remain sluggish.

    The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell the most in a month on speculation that bank earnings won't improve in the second half, prolonging the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Copper tumbled 54 percent in 2008 amid bank losses, rising unemployment and a manufacturing slump.

    "People are looking at the stock market and trying to gauge what the growth situation is going to look like," said Donald Selkin, the chief market strategist at National Securities Corp. in New York. "Copper looks like it will continue to trade in a narrow range until we get some clear direction for the economy."

    Copper futures for September delivery fell 3.4 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $2.7365 a pound on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier, the price gained as much as 1.4 percent. Yesterday, the metal slipped 0.5 percent.

    China's imports of copper and related products fell in July for the first time in six months. The total dropped 15 percent from a record in June, the Beijing-based customs office said today.

    Copper prices have soared 94 percent this year, partly because of surging imports by China, the world's biggest metal user.

Prices may continue to climb as the global economy recovers, analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said.

    "Growing evidence of economic recovery that has led Goldman Sachs to boost GDP forecasts of several major economies in recent days will likely be increasingly supportive of base- metal prices," analysts including Jeffrey Currie in London said in a report yesterday.

    On the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months fell $96, or 1.6 percent, to $6,039 a metric ton ($2.74 a pound). Lead, tin, zinc, aluminum and nickel also dropped in London.

    (Source: Bloomberg)