Producers of metals and other raw materials fell alongside commodities prices as the dollar spiked in the wake of a strong jobs report.
The number of new weekly unemployment applications fell below 400,000 for the first time since the onset of the pandemic, provoking bets that the Federal Reserve would alter its policy sooner than anticipated. That anticipation spurred the U.S. dollar to a three-week high in foreign-exchange markets, rising by more than 0.6% in Thursday's session alone.
In London, three-month copper futures fell 2.7% to $9,837 a metric ton, retreating below the psychologically significant $10,000-per-ton level, which was breached recently for the first time in a decade.
Jetti said miners BHP, Freeport McMoRan and Japan's Mitsubishi were among a group that had agreed to invest a total of $50 million in the company to help fund the rollout of its business extracting copper from mine waste. One reason for the surge in copper prices in recent months are forecasts that demand will exceed supply in the next decade as nations build new sustainable-energy infrastructure.
Gold futures, which are particularly sensitive to moves in the dollar, were also lower.
Write to Rob Curran at rob.curran@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
06-03-21 1702ET
