COMMODITIES : Soybean, Grain Futures Prices Fall
Soybean futures prices plunged as much as 16 cents a bushel Friday on the Chicago Board of Trade amid heavy selling prompted by a dismal outlook for export sales, analysts said. Grain futures also retreated.
On other markets, oil futures advanced for the fifth straight day and precious metals and stock index futures posted slight gains.
Soybeans declined on a combination of bearish fundamentals, including good harvest weather for the South American soybean crop, disappointing export sales last week and relatively high cash prices for soybeans and soybean products, analysts said.
“We’re just way out of whack with prices for cottonseed meal and corn,” making soybeans less attractive on the world market, said Richard Loewy, senior grain and oil-seed analyst for Prudential-Bache Securities Inc. in New York.
The government released grain export sales figures Thursday for the week ending April 7, showing that shipments of both soybeans and soybean meal were down about 60% from the previous week.
The rally last week that pushed new-crop soybean futures well above $7 a bushel likely persuaded more farmers to plant soybeans, another bearish factor, said Joel Karlin, an analyst for Chicago-based Research Department Inc.
Oil Futures Advance
Wheat settled 2.50 cents to 3.75 cents lower, with the contract for delivery in May at $3.1275 a bushel; corn was 1.50 cents to 2.50 cents lower, with May at $2.0275 a bushel; oats were 0.50 cent to 1.50 cents lower, with May at $1.60 a bushel, and soybeans were 13 cents to 16 cents lower, with May at $6.625 a bushel.
Crude-oil futures advanced for the fifth straight day on the New York Mercantile Exchange on expectations that OPEC and non-OPEC countries will agree to limit oil production when they meet in a session scheduled for April 28.
Some members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries appear unwilling to cut their production, but the market has so far ignored those bearish signals, said Michael Rothman, senior oil analyst for Merrill Lynch Capital Markets in New York.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil settled 7 cents to 8 cents higher, with May at $18.37 a barrel; heating oil was 0.24 cent to 0.43 cent higher, with May at 49.75 cents a gallon, and unleaded gasoline was 0.25 cent to 0.33 cent higher, with May at 52.61 cents a gallon.
Gold futures advanced on New York’s Commodity Exchange in quiet trading following the government’s release of a report showing a 0.6% rise in wholesale prices last month.
Gold settled $1.90 to $2.80 higher, with June at $458.50 an ounce; silver was 0.5 cent to 1 cent higher, with May at $6.475 an ounce.
Stock index futures posted slight gains on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, where the contract for June delivery of the Standard & Poor’s 500 index settled 0.4 point higher at 258.80.
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