Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold Price Monitor -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: goldsheet who wrote (56672)	7/23/2000 6:58:28 PM
From: Stephen O	Respond to of 116815

U.S. Commodities: Copper at 6-Month High as Demand Improves New York, July 21 (Bloomberg) -- Copper rose more than 2 percent to a six-month high on signs of improving demand for the metal used in everything from cars to electrical wires. Purchases of copper have been rising as U.S. factory output grew 7 percent in the second quarter, government figures show. London Metal Exchange copper stockpiles, the world's biggest publicly reported inventory, have plunged 39 percent from a record on March 8, falling every day but one since then. ``Demand is very, very good,'' said Bernard Schilberg, president of Schilberg Integrated Metals in Willimantic, Connecticut, which makes copper products used in housing, communications and power generation. While purchases by builders have slowed, ``there is still good demand in the power utility sector, and telecommunications is very strong,'' he said. In other markets, crude oil dropped below $29 a barrel and cattle prices fell. The Bridge-Commodity Research Bureau index fell 0.8 to 222.57, and the energy-weighted Goldman Sachs Commodity Index fell 3.02 to 219.82. Copper for September delivery rose as much as 2 cents, or 2.4 percent, to 86.8 cents a pound on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, the biggest one-day gain since May 5 and the highest price for a most-active contract since Jan. 21. Prices are 16 percent higher than a year ago. ``We think the industrial manufacturing sectors will be extremely active at the end of the third quarter and for the fourth quarter,'' Schilberg said. ``Their future orders are very, very strong.'' Demand typically declines during in the summer as manufacturers cut production hours for maintenance and vacations. The growth in U.S. industrial production in the second quarter was boosted mostly by a 0.8 percent increase in April, the Federal Reserve reported last week. Much of the gain was due to increased purchases of information-processing equipment such as computer systems. World copper consumption jumped 8.1 percent in the first four months of the year to 4.98 million tons, up from 4.6 million tons in the same period last year, according to the U.K.-based World Bureau of Metal Statistics in a report this week. Annual consumption last year rose 3.2 percent. Zinc is almost there, to a six month high. When will we see gold start to move as an inflation hedge?