MARKET UPDATE FOR FEB 6

COMEX copper futures shot nearly 8 cents higher

Friday morning as traders grew more optimistic

about the passage of a US stimulus package in

light of the abysmal non-farm payroll figures

released earlier in the morning.


Copper for March delivery, the active month,

was up 8 cents/lb at 158 cents/lb at 10:30 am

EST (1530 GMT), while the forward May contract

was up 7.80 cents at 159 cents. COMEX copper

stocks rose by a net 43 st overnight to

40,848 st. Three-months copper on the London

Metal Exchange rose $152/mt by the end


of the second ring to $3,481/mt. Copper stocks

in LME warehouses rose a net 2,025 mt to 504,625

mt on substantial deliveries to Livorno, Italy.


Copper started strongly overnight in Asia

after trading limit up in Shanghai. But prices

accelerated in London following the release of


worse-than-expected non-farm payroll figures for

January by the US Labor Department.

"Since the release of the payroll numbers,

since they were disastrous, there's a view that

this lends more urgency to Congress to push the

The recent turnaround in key leading indicators,

such as the Philadelphia Federal Index and the

Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing

index, has raised hopes that the global

slowdown may be coming to an end, the analyst said.