COMMODITIES : Soybeans Jump 13.5 Cents a Bushel

Soybean futures prices soared as much as 13.5 cents a bushel Monday after a private crop analyst predicted only a slight increase in soybean planting this year. Grain futures also closed higher.

On other markets, crude oil futures tumbled well below $16 a barrel; livestock and meat futures advanced sharply; precious metals posted slight gains, and stock index futures advanced.

Prices for delivery of new-crop soybeans--those to be harvested this fall as opposed to those already in storage--posted the greatest gains on the Chicago Board of Trade in reaction talk about estimates issued Monday morning by Sparks Commodities Inc., a private analytical firm based in Memphis, Tenn.

Sparks reportedly pegged 1988 U.S. soybean plantings at 57.5 million acres, just slightly above last year’s 57.4 million acres. The report followed an estimate of about 60 million acres made last week by Refco Inc., a large commodities trading firm.

Earlier trade estimates have been as high as 64 million acres. The Agriculture Department will release its first 1988 crop acreage estimates on March 31.

Sparks would not comment on the figures, which it supplies only to its subscribers.

“That’s not the gospel, but it’s the closest thing we’ve got for the time being,” Victor Lespinasse, a trader for Dean Witter Reynolds, said of the reported Sparks estimate.

Corn Estimate

Mickey Luth, Chicago-based soybean analyst for Shearson Lehman Hutton, said the Sparks estimate merely gave the soybean market an excuse to reclaim the losses it sustained last week.

Luth said he expected 1988 soybean planting to total 58.4 million acres.

Sparks also reportedly predicted 1988 corn plantings at 66.8 million acres compared to last year’s 65.7 million. The estimate was seen as slightly bullish for corn prices.

Oil prices fell sharply to below $16 on the New York Mercantile Exchange in reaction to reports that Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s largest producer, had rejected calls for new restrictions on production.

Crude prices had moved above $16 late last week after members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries called for a meeting of the cartel’s pricing committee to stabilize prices.

Livestock and meat futures posted sharp gains on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in response to stronger demand for cattle and tighter supplies of hogs, resulting in higher cash prices for both.

Weather worries also helped boost the livestock futures, analysts said. A winter storm moving out of the Rocky Mountains could slow the movement of animals to market in the northern Great Plains states, said Tom O’Hare, an analyst in New York with Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co.

Silver futures advanced slightly while gold finished nearly unchanged on the Commodity Exchange in New York.

Stock index futures gained on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, where the contract for March delivery of the Standard & Poor’s 500 index settled 0.90 point higher at 266.40.

The underlying spot index gained 1.43 points, closing at 266.37.

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