LIVE FUTURES REPORT 07/08: Comex copper price starts week just in positive territory

Copper for September delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 1.05 cents or 0.3% to trade recently at $2.8955 per lb on the morning of Monday August 7.

In contrast, Comex gold for December settlement dipped by $2.20 or 0.2% to $1,262.40 per oz. Trading has ranged very narrowly from $1,261.30 to $1,265 so far.

On Friday, US data showed the country added 209,000 jobs in July, better than the expected reading of 182,000. Meanwhile, the June US trade deficit of $43.6 billion was a slight improvement on consensus of $43.9 billion.

Copper had spent most of last week in negative territory but its recovery more recently must contend with with a recovering dollar. The dollar index was recently at 93.48.

“The recent short-lived nature of price pressure suggests underlying sentiment remains bullish; however, prices are likely to be come increasingly volatile in the short term because speculative positioning has become extremely polarized,” Metal Bulletin analyst James Moore said.

Oil prices and data releases

• In other commodities, the Texas light sweet crude oil spot price dipped 1.29% to $48.94 per barrel.
• In data today, the UK’s Halifax house price index came in at 0.4%, a touch above the forecast of 0.3%. The EU Sentix investor confidence was roughly in line at 27.7.
• Later, the USA’s monthly labour market conditions index and consumer credit data are due.