US copper ends down as economic gloom drives bears
NEW YORK, Nov 6 (Reuters) - U.S. copper futures lost more than 5 percent by the close on Thursday as underlying economic gloom and renewed strength in the dollar reinvigorated another bearish push to the downside.
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* Copper for December delivery HGZ8 slipped 9.35 cents, or 5.1 percent, to close at $1.7255 a lb on the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division.
* Session range from $1.7050 to $1.8210.
* COMEX estimated final volume at 22,041 lots, compared with Wednesday's 29,115 lots.
* Open interest fell 157 lots to 77,819 contracts as of Nov. 5.
* COMEX copper resumes its downtrend following Tuesday's preelection short-covering rally as market refocuses on its negative supply/demand outlook - Bill O'Neill, partner of LOGIC Advisors in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.
* Sharp losses in global equity markets add to the negative economic sentiment.
* European interest rates cuts fail to provide positive backing for the economic outlook; instead show how dire economic circumstance are - O'Neill.
* The European Central Bank cut interest rates by 50 basis points while the Bank of England surprised by slashing its rates by 1.5 percentage point.
* The International Monetary Fund expects 2009 global economic growth of 2.2 percent, down 0.8 percentage point from the forecast it gave in October. [ID:nWEQ000354]
* Industrial metal copper further hit by deteriorating outlook in U.S. auto industry. [ID:nSP306564]
* GM says auto industry faces 'critical' 100 days. [ID:nN053418GM]
* Copper's poor demand environment reflected in continuous rise in inventory levels.
* London Metal Exchange-registered copper warehouse stocks jumped 5,075 tonnes on Thursday, bringing the total to 252,550 tonnes, a rise of more than 40,000 tonnes in about two weeks to their highest level since March 2004.
* Investor attention now turns to the U.S. jobs report scheduled for release Friday.
* The Reuters consensus forecast is for U.S. non-farm payrolls to fall by 200,000 in October, after dropping 159,000 in September.
* LME copper for three-month delivery MCU3=LX stumbled to a session low at $3,795.50 a tonne before ending at $3,805, down $265 from Wednesday's close at $4,070. (Reporting by Chris Kelly; Editing by Walter Bagley)
