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 : Copper - analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Robert Douglas who wrote (1060)	12/17/2004 2:12:41 PM
From: Stephen O	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2131

Copper Rises, Heading for Biggest Weekly Gain Since February By Choy Leng Yeong Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Copper prices in New York rose for a seventh straight session, heading for their biggest weekly gain since February, as a decline in the value of the dollar reduced the cost of the metal for buyers in Europe and Japan. The dollar fell against the euro after the Ifo institute said German business confidence unexpectedly improved. Copper, sold in dollars, has moved almost in lockstep with the euro's performance against the dollar in the past two months, at a correlation coefficient of 0.6. The maximum reading is 1. The coefficient measures to what degree two variables move in unison. ``The euro definitely had a little bit impact on copper,'' said Peter Ligotti, a trader at William J. O'Reilly Inc. in New York. ``I've noticed people watching the euro a bit more this week.'' Copper futures for March delivery rose 0.5 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $1.395 a pound at 12:19 p.m. on the Comex division of the Nymex. Prices have gained 6 percent in the past seven sessions and 5.1 percent this week, the biggest weekly gain since the week ended Feb. 20. A futures contract is an obligation to buy or sell a commodity at a set price by a specific date. Copper earlier fell as much as 0.6 percent on concern demand from China and the U.S., the two largest consumers of the metal, might slow. Housing Starts Decline The metal pared its 1.6 percent intraday gain yesterday to 0.3 percent after a report showing the biggest decline in U.S. home construction in more than a decade signaled less demand for the metal used in pipes and electrical wiring in new buildings. Copper stockpiles in Shanghai Futures Exchange warehouses rose 3.8 percent this week to 39,402 tons from a week earlier, the exchange said today. ``I don't know if China can continue to grow into the next year,'' said John Hanemann, president of Hanemann Trading Co. in New York. ``The fundamentals are very mixed in copper now, and I'm standing on the sidelines.'' Builders started work on 13 percent fewer homes in November, a Commerce Department report said yesterday. The average U.S. home uses about 400 pounds of copper in wiring and pipes. ``The housing starts surprised everyone,'' Hanemann said. ``Nobody has taken into consideration that they haven't started anything in Florida, which is one of the largest states in building,'' after hurricane damage in August and September. Copper reached a 15-year high of $1.482 a pound on Oct. 8, partly on demand from China and the U.S. November's U.S. housing starts declined from the best month of the year in October, when builders kicked into high gear following the hurricanes in the southeastern U.S. ``I have friends down there,'' Hanemann said. ``You can't get anybody to put a roof on. Labor cost is so exorbitant.'' --Editors: McKiernan, Enoch