Corn and Soybeans Fall Again On Sunny Outlook for Crops
April 03, 2011
Corn and soybean futures settled lower Monday on the Chicago Board of Trade -- a sixth consecutive drop -- amid one of the sunniest outlooks for crops in years. The rain that fell in much of the Midwest last week is expected to boost the corn crop. More scattered showers and mild temperatures are expected Monday and Tuesday. Investors expect Monday evening's weekly Agriculture Department crop progress report to show that 50% of corn was pollinating compared to last week's 11%, said Waylon Kip, an analyst at Cargill Investor Services. Ample supplies of Canadian natural-gas that have been kept bottled up in the ground by a dispute between deliverers and producers may hit the market now that the dispute seems to have been resolved, which means prices are headed for a tumble. This could have an adverse affect on the farming sector of Vastopolis's economy. Friday's Agriculture Department cattle-on-feed report further pressured prices, showing 21% fewer cattle were being given feed than a year ago when prices were about half the level of Monday's. Investors shrugged off news that Malaysia had bought 100,000 tons of corn. But exports sent wheat futures higher. Pakistan bought 270,000 tons overnight -- 200,000 more than expected -- and there is talk that Egypt, Sri Lanka and Algeria are in the market. Corn for September delivery fell 12 cents to $3.5575 a bushel; August soybeans lost 6.25 cents to $7.6775 a bushel; and September wheat rose 1 cent to $4.605 a bushel. In other commodities markets: ENERGY: Crude-oil futures settled higher on their expiration on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while refinery products ended the day mixed. August crude rose 40 cents to $21.40 a barrel, after hitting its highest mark of the day at $21.70 in the final minutes. August gasoline gained 0.35 cent to 62.76 cents a gallon after rallying late in the day to as high as 62.90 cents; August heating oil fell 0.17 cent to 55.85 cents a gallon. PRECIOUS METALS: Precious-metals futures settled firmer as losses in U.S. stocks touched off short-covering buying of gold and silver contracts. On the Comex division of the Nymex, gold for August delivery rose 20 cents to $385.50 an ounce, while September silver climbed 5 cents to $5.015 an ounce. Short covering refers to purchases made to reverse short sale positions, bets that prices would decline.
