Copper, aluminum slump
Sunday, 9 May 2010
NEW YORK, May 8 (Reuters):Copper fell, heading for its worst week since January, and aluminum declined to the lowest level since February on concern that Europe's debt crisis may slow the global economic recovery.
Copper for three-month delivery fell as much as 2.7 per cent to $6,760 a tonne in London and aluminum lost 2.5 per cent to $2,050 a tonne, the lowest since Feb. 15. Oil, rebounding from an 11-week low in New York yesterday, has lost 9.8 per cent this week, the worst performance since July 2009.
Commodities tumbled as US stocks slumped the most in a year yesterday as waves of computerized trading exacerbated a selloff triggered by Europe's sovereign debt crisis. The MSCI World Index declined for a fourth day, heading for the worst weekly loss since March 2009. The euro dropped the most since the collapse of credit markets in 2008.
"You can't expect crude and the rest of commodities to hold when the financial markets are collapsing," Frederic Lasserre, head of commodity research at Societe Generale in Paris, said today by phone.
US employment increased 290,000 in April, the most in four years and more than the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The unemployment rate unexpectedly rose as thousands of people entered the labor force.
The S&P GSCI Commodity Index of 24 raw materials lost 7 per cent this week, the most since July 2009. The Dow Jones Industrial Average had its biggest intraday loss yesterday since the market crash of 1987.
Copper for three-month delivery fell as much as 2.7 per cent to $6,760 a tonne in London and aluminum lost 2.5 per cent to $2,050 a tonne, the lowest since Feb. 15. Oil, rebounding from an 11-week low in New York yesterday, has lost 9.8 per cent this week, the worst performance since July 2009.
Commodities tumbled as US stocks slumped the most in a year yesterday as waves of computerized trading exacerbated a selloff triggered by Europe's sovereign debt crisis. The MSCI World Index declined for a fourth day, heading for the worst weekly loss since March 2009. The euro dropped the most since the collapse of credit markets in 2008.
"You can't expect crude and the rest of commodities to hold when the financial markets are collapsing," Frederic Lasserre, head of commodity research at Societe Generale in Paris, said today by phone.
US employment increased 290,000 in April, the most in four years and more than the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The unemployment rate unexpectedly rose as thousands of people entered the labor force.
The S&P GSCI Commodity Index of 24 raw materials lost 7 per cent this week, the most since July 2009. The Dow Jones Industrial Average had its biggest intraday loss yesterday since the market crash of 1987.