• Print
• E-Mail

Grains

Corn slid to an 8-month low today, with the December contract settling 3 1/2 cents lower at $4.84 per bushel. An unexpected jump of corn inventories in the US due to slowing demand was noted for the modest decline in corn futures today.

Corn inventories in the U.S. as of Sept. 1 were pegged at 1.624 billion bushels, reported the U.S. Department of Agriculture today. Analysts were expecting a fall of 1.539 billion. The USDA also predicted a 14-percent decline in demand for corn feed.

Soybeans closed higher for the first time in a week, with the November contract settling 8 cents higher at $10.53 a bushel. Farm groups in Argentina, the worlds third largest producer, is threatening to slash output in response to government export restrictions. December soy-meal settled $1.20 higher at $286.20 per short ton, and December soy-oil closed 20 points higher at 44.68 cents per pound.

Wheat closed 1.5-percent lower today, with the December contract settling 10 1/4 cents lower at $6.69 3/4 a bushel. Strength in the U.S. dollar and technical weakness was noted for much of the decline.

Energy

Crude oil fell 2.1-percent today, with the November contract settling $2.11 lower at $98.53 a barrel. Strength in the U.S. dollar and a larger than expected build in U.S. crude oil inventories was noted for todays decline.

The EIA reported today, that U.S. inventories of crude oil rose 4.28 million barrels to 294.5 million last week, with analysts forecasting a build of about 2.5 million barrels. Refinery utilization increased 5.6-percent to 72.3-percent after storms reduced supplies last month.

November RBOB gasoline rose 9.6 cents to settle at $2.4577 a gallon, November heating oil gained 10.6 cents to closeat $2.8947 a gallon, November natural gas rose 21.7 cents to finish at $7.438 per million British thermal units.

Metals