Copper Futures Retreat in New York as Moody's May Cut Spain's Debt Rating

Bloomberg （Dec 15）---Copper prices fell the most in three weeks in New York as a potential downgrade of Spain’s credit rating revived concern that Europe’s debt crisis will worsen, hampering the global economic rebound.

Moody’s Investors Services said Spain’s rating may be cut from Aa1, amid growing concern it could follow Greece and Ireland in seeking a bailout. Prices also fell on speculation that China, the world’s largest metals consumer, may have to raise interest rates to cool inflation.

Europe is “one step away from the next crisis,” Edward Meir, a senior commodity analyst at MF Global Holdings Ltd. in Darien, Connecticut, said in a report. “We are in store for a rather sharp correction over the next several weeks as investors have not yet fully discounted the implications of rising interest rates.”

Copper futures for March delivery fell 7.65 cents, or 1.8 percent, to close at $4.1325 a pound at 1:27 p.m. on the Comex in New York, the biggest loss for a most-active contract since Nov. 22.

Yesterday, the price reached $4.229, the highest since May 2008, when the commodity jumped to a record $4.2605.

Stockpiles monitored by the London Metal Exchange have gained 2.7 percent in the past three days to the highest level since Nov. 23, exchange figures showed.

In London, copper for delivery in three months dropped $70, or 0.8 percent, to $9,095 a metric ton （$4.13 a pound） on the LME. Yesterday, the price rose to a record $9,267.50.

Tin, lead, aluminum and zinc also fell in London. Nickel gained.