US copper soars

September COMEX contract rose 3.80 cents to settle at $4.0320, after hitting its own 1-1/2-week peak at $4.0785 on Wednesday. Commodity investors rode a wave of confidence in global equity markets, with stronger outlooks and results from US retailers feeding a wave of improved risk sentiment that helped boost the Reuters-Jefferies CRB index up more than 1 percent.
"The (metals) market is undecided but it is likely that growth will slow down in the second part of the year ... it is yet to be seen whether this is already priced in," said Eugen Weinberg, commodities analyst at Commerzbank.