interesting, page-2

No doom and gloom here folks.

This on Kitco today....



METALS-Copper soars to new record on U.S. data boost
Fri Feb 4, 2011 8:00pm GMT Print | Single Page [-] Text [+]
* U.S. manufacturing job growth backs healthy demand view
* Copper rally helps tin to new all-time high
* Trade thin due to Lunar New Year holiday
(Recasts, updates prices, market activity to New York close; adds second
byline, dateline, previously LONDON)
By Chris Kelly and Rebekah Curtis
NEW YORK/LONDON, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Copper pushed well above $10,000 a tonne
to a record high on Friday, driven by encouraging employment data in the United
States that backed views of a healthier 2011 demand outlook.
Prices of the metal, often viewed as a barometer for economic conditions,
posted their biggest weekly gain in nine weeks, as investment demand kept
growing in anticipation of expected supply shortages and market deficits this
year.
Copper pushed higher even after the U.S. data showed a meager 36,000 jobs
were created last month, as traders focused on the steep decline in the jobless
rate and the significant jump in manufacturing jobs. [ID:nN0366997]
The data showed U.S. manufacturing jobs expanding at their fastest rate
since August 1998.
"Sluggish job creation figures were balanced out by a larger than expected
fall in unemployment which has kept the base metals bullish momentum
unchanged," said Kamil Wlazly, a metals analyst at Metal Bulletin Research.
London Metal Exchange (LME) copper for three-months delivery CMCU3 closed
up $120 at $10,050 a tonne, after touching a record high $10,100.
The benchmark COMEX March contract HGH1 settled up 3.50 cents at $4.5795
per lb, after hitting its own record at $4.6140.
Copper, widely used in manufacturing and construction, should enjoy strong
demand due to improving economic conditions in the developed world and a strong
phase of industrialization still underway in emerging economies like India and
China.