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Strategies & Market Trends : Commodities - The Coming Bull Market -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: craig crawford who wrote (1206)	3/26/2002 3:00:34 PM
From: Stephen O	Respond to of 1643

Copper Rises After Report Shows Improved Consumer Confidence New York, March 26 (Bloomberg) -- Copper rose for the first time in five sessions after a report showed consumer confidence in the U.S. increased more than expected in March. ``When people are more confident about the economy, they go out and buy more things,'' said Tony Nappi, a copper trader at Triland USA Inc. in New York. ``That's going to benefit copper prices.'' The Conference Board's gauge of consumer sentiment rose to a seven-month high, reflecting the economy's rebound from a recession that curbed industrial demand for wires and pipe. Copper prices had fallen 4.6 percent from a 10-month high last week on concern that soaring inventories showed that demand had yet to be boosted by the recovery. Copper for May delivery rose as much as 1.05 cents, or 1.4 percent, to 74.8 cents a pound on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices still were 4.7 percent lower than a year earlier. In London, copper for delivery in three months rose as much as $20, or 1.2 percent, to $1,632 a metric ton (74 cents a pound) on the London Metal Exchange. The Conference Board's index of consumer confidence rose to 110.2 in March from 95 in February, exceeding analysts' forecasts for a reading of 98. Consumers' sentiment is an important factor in economic growth because their spending accounts for about two- thirds of gross domestic product. Soaring Inventories Copper prices had risen as much as 28 percent from a 14-year low in November as reports showed the U.S. economy was emerging from recession. The rally stalled because of the continued rise in London Metal Exchange inventories, which have been at or close to record levels since late January. Copper supplies in exchange-monitored warehouses, at 940,850 tons, have more than doubled in the past year and have risen in all but five of the daily reports issued by the exchange since late January. ``Inventories do matter, and that's why we'll probably see copper prices go lower again,'' said Rick Hirsch, president of Natexis Metals Inc., a trading company in New York. The rally in copper prices was largely the result of buying by ``speculators and the commodity funds, not by consumers who needed the metal,'' Hirsch said. --Claudia Carpenter in the New York newsroom (212) 318-2346 or at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net with reporting by Siobhan Hughes in Washington. Editor: Bixby