Commodity Prices Move Lower

Crude oil closed 3.5-percent lower today, with the July contract settling $4.75 lower at $131.93 a barrel. Oil was higher early in the session on news of an oil platform shut-down in Nigeria, before an announcement that China would be raising prices- sent crude lower.

China’s National Development and Reform Commission said on its Web site that it raised gasoline, diesel and jet-fuel prices. Gasoline prices was raised by 17-percent, diesel prices was raised by 18-percent, and jet-fuel prices was raised by 25-percent.

Shell said Thursday that it has temporarily halted production at its main offshore field in Nigeria due to an overnight attack, the BBC reported on its Web site.

Natural gas closed 2.6-percent lower today, with the July contract settling 34.9 cents lower at $12.861 per million British thermal units. Spill-over weakness from crude sparked some profit-taking after closing at a 29-month high yesterday.

Natural-gas inventories rose by 57 billion cubic feet for the week ended June 13, the Energy Department said Thursday. Natural gas stocks now stand at 1.943 trillion cubic feet, down 376 billion cubic feet from the year-ago level and 52 billion cubic feet below the five-year average.

July RBOB gasoline settled 11.4 cents lower at $3.3526 a gallon, and July heating oil settled 14.6 cents lower at $3.7135 a gallon.

Grains

Corn closed 2.5-percent lower today, with the July contract settling 18 1/2 cents lower at $7.27 3/4 per bushel. Speculation record level corn prices will ease demand, combined with falling energy prices sent corn lower. Corn sales fell 35-percent to 342,956 metric tons in the week ended June 12, the USDA said today.

Soybeans closed 1.4-percent lower today, with the July contract settling 21 1/2 cents lower at $15.215 a bushel. The USDA said that China, the world’s largest soybean importer, canceled plans to buy 463,500 tons of U.S. oil-seed. Soybean sales fell 37-percent to 171,186 tons.

July wheat settled 23 cents lower at $8.81 per bushel, July oats settled 14 cents lower at $4.13 a bushel, July soy-meal settled $2.40 lower at $419.50 per short ton, and July soy-oil settled 134 points lower at 64.12 cents per pound.

Softs

Cotton closed 2.5-percent lower today, with the December contract settling 198 points lower at 80.07 cents a pound. Cotton was higher early in the session, before poor export data and overall weakness in commodities pulled cotton lower. Export sales of upland cotton fell 90-percent in the week ended June 12, the USDA said today.

Cocoa closed at a fresh 28-year high, with the July contract settling $95 higher at $3,163 a metric ton. Demand outpacing supply, and concerns over the Ivory Coast cocoa main-crop continues to power cocoa higher.

September coffee settled 30 points higher at $1.3965 a pound, September juice settled 460 points lower at $1.1085 a pound, and October sugar settled 18 points lower at 12.71 cents.

Meats

Cattle futures closed lower today, with August feeder cattle settling 60 points lower at $111.10 per hundredweight. Lower corn prices were weighing on cattle prices today. August live cattle settled 45 points lower at $103.45 per hundredweight.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s mid-day boxed beef wire reported choice cuts gained $0.24 per hundredweight, while select items were $0.79 per hundredweight higher.

Hog futures closed lower today, with August lean hogs settling 62 points lower at 75.45 cents a pound. August pork bellies settled 5 points lower at 72.80 cents a pound.

The USDA’s monthly cattle-on-feed report will be released on Friday at 3 p.m. EDT. The following are analysts’ averages and the range of estimates in percentages of a year ago:

Average Range
of estimates of estimates
On-feed in June 97.2 95.0-98.9
Placed in May 90.4 83.0-96.3
Marketed in May 101.7 99.5-104.7

Metals

Gold closed 1.2-percent higher today, with the August contract settling $10.70 higher at $904.20 an ounce. Falling output in South Africa and speculation that global inflation will push gold significantly higher was noted for today’s rally.

July silver settled 13 cents higher at $17.47 an ounce, September palladium settled $7.40 higher at $479.20 an ounce, July copper settled 3.2 cents higher at $3.7795 a pound, and July platinum settled $36.10 lower at $2,055.80 an ounce.

Subscribe by RSS Subscribe by Email