Copper at $3.036 as New-Home Sales Surge

Copper futures rose from a 14-week low after a government report showed new-home sales jumped to the highest in more than six years in the U.S., the second-largest consumer of the metal.

Home purchases in August surged 18 percent to a 504,000 annualized pace, the strongest since May 2008 and surpassing the highest forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists, government data showed today. Copper dropped in the previous five sessions, partly on signs that the housing market is sputtering in China, the top user of industrial metals.

The U.S. data “rescued copper for the moment,” Bill O’Neill, a partner at Logic Advisors in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, said in a telephone interview.  Copper futures for December delivery gained 0.6 percent to settle at $3.0535 a pound at 1:08 p.m. on the Comex in New York. Earlier, the price touched $3.023, the lowest for a most-active contract since June 16.

Bloomberg

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