Soybean Futures Retreat

Soybean futures prices, which registered sharp gains Monday, gave it all back Tuesday amid rainfall predictions in the soybean-growing regions of Brazil and a technically oriented sell-off on the Chicago Board of Trade.

Heating and crude-oil prices and leaded gasoline prices, which slid on the New York Mercantile Exchange the day before, surged ahead Tuesday as members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries kept talking in Geneva.

Soybeans advanced Monday when the Agriculture Department reported that the crop was smaller than analysts had anticipated. Walter Spilka, an analyst for Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co. in New York, said the ground work for Tuesday’s big retreat was laid Monday when prices failed to close on life-of-contract highs.

“That touched off a round of selling when the session opened and carried right through,” Spilka said.

Wheat prices strengthened during the session amid talk that another wave of bitterly cold weather was expected to sweep across the nation’s heartland. Spilka said damage to the winter wheat crop could be extensive because it lacks a protective layer of snow in some areas.

Trading in corn futures contracts was flat but analysts noted that prices are showing resistance to any further declines.