Copper price surges on smallest US jobs gain in seven months

The dollar dipped, supporting metals prices by making greenback-priced commodities cheaper for holders of other currencies.

U.S. hiring downshifted abruptly in August with the smallest jobs gain in seven months, complicating a potential decision by the Federal Reserve to begin scaling back monetary support by year-end.

Nonfarm payrolls increased 235,000 last month, trailing all forecasts, after an upwardly revised 1.05 million gain in July, a Labor Department report showed Friday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for 720,000 new hires.

Employment in leisure and hospitality, which have posted strong gains recently, was flat amid the spreading delta variant and persistent hiring challenges. 

The unemployment rate fell to 5.2% from 5.4%.

“The Labour market report today is important to the assessment of the Fed,” said Commerzbank analyst Daniel Briesemann just before the numbers were released.

“Everyone is waiting for the non-farm payroll data and they should move the base metals depending on what happens with the dollar.”

Click here for an interactive chart of copper prices

(With files from Reuters and Bloomberg)