“Copper declined in New York on speculation China’s government will take steps to slow inflation, curbing metals demand.
China’s swap market is signaling interest-rate increases for the first time since 2011 after inflation accelerated to a 10-month high and the housing market defied government cooling efforts. Hedge funds are making the biggest bet against copper on record, U.S. government figures showed last week.
“The new government seems determined to constrain excessive rallies in real-estate and tackle the potential threat of inflation,” Michael Lewis, an analyst at Deutsche Bank AG in London, said in a report dated today. There are “falling expectatations for Chinese economic activity.”
Copper futures for May delivery fell 0.1 percent to $3.4625 a pound at 8:09 a.m. on Comex in New York.
Stockpiles of copper in warehouses monitored by the LME expanded another 0.5 percent 565,350 tons, the highest since October 2003, LME data today showed. Inventories have jumped 77 percent this year….”
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