Copper Tumbles, Gold Declines

Ivaylo
18 May, 2007
New York City

A combination of bearish fundamental influences came together and weighed on copper futures Thursday. According to investors, the market is entering a period when demand tends to slow on a seasonal basis. Much of the building wire and other copper-related products used for the U.S. construction season is purchased in the spring. Some of the pressure on gold and silver spilled over from the second straight day of sharp drops in copper prices.

[R]5:00AM Copper declines Thursday, gold and silver follow suit.[/R]

The most-active July copper contract plunged 11.60 cents to end at $3.3065 per pound on the New York Mercantile Exchange. June gold lost $4.30 to settle at $657.20 a troy ounce, while July silver finished down 4.7 cents at $12.883 an ounce. July platinum closed also down $7.90 at $1,317.90 an ounce. June palladium bucked thr downtrend and settled up $2.90 at $360.40 an ounce.

The front-month June crude oil contract advanced $2.41 at $64.86 a barrel, while June gasoline ended up 9.96 cents at $2.4366 a gallon. June heating oil finished up 6.97 cents at $1.9367 a gallon and June natural gas added 18.5 cents to close at $8.075 per million British thermal units.

On the New York Board of Trade, Arabica coffee futures May settled up 3.10 cents at $1.1035 a pound, with July up 3.4 cents at $1.1310. Most-active July cocoa shed $6 to settle at $1,894 a metric ton. Futures on raw sugar in foreign ports for July ended unchanged at 8.68 cents a pound, with October off 0.02 cent at 9.01 cents.

On the Chicago Board of Trade, July corn futures closed 3 cents lower at $3.73 per bushel, and December finished 7 cents lower at $3.7050. July soybeans settled unchanged at $7.9275 per bushel. July wheat settled down 11.25 cents at $4.8550 per bushel.