Commodities : Tuesday, Sept. 30, 1986 : Wheat Futures Prices Drop

Wheat futures prices turned lower Tuesday as a special government subsidy meant to attract Soviet business was expiring without having moved a single grain.

Soybeans and most corn deliveries also were lower, after having gained nearly 10 cents a bushel on weather news during the two previous sessions.

In some other markets, cotton was sharply to limit higher, coffee as much as limit lower and most livestock and meat futures were lower.

Agriculture futures on the Chicago Board of Trade opened higher with corn and soybeans benefiting from continued concern over weather in the Midwest and wheat advancing on a government report showing less of the grain in storage than had been believed.

Wheat held up most of the day, but went into a slump near the close.

“The market began to realize that without the Soviets, you can’t maintain the positive (export) pace we’ve seen the first three months” of the marketing year, said Ted Mao, an analyst in New York with Shearson Lehman Bros.