Commodities prices mostly rise as storm recedes
Prices for commodities mostly rise as worries about crop damage from storm recedes
Prices for corn, soybeans and other commodities are mostly rising as traders become less worried about fallout from Hurricane Sandy.
CME Group, which runs several exchanges including the New York Mercantile Exchange, said its New York trading floor will reopen Wednesday pending the lifting of the evacuation order for lower Manhattan, where the storm caused flooding.
CME continued electronic trading on Monday and Tuesday while the stock market was closed because of the storm. Stock trading is scheduled to resume on Wednesday as well.
Corn for December delivery rose 4.75 cents to settle at $7.4175 a bushel and soybeans for January delivery rose 6.75 cents to $15.365 a bushel. Wheat for December delivery edged down 1.25 cents to $8.5675 a bushel.
Commodities prices came under pressure Monday as investors became nervous about the possible effects of the storm, but buyers were coming back into the market on Tuesday as those threats receded, said Darin Newsom, senior analyst with DTN in Omaha, Neb.
"They felt more comfortable buying back into this market because they didn't see this storm or its aftermath as a big question mark," Newsom said. "We've got so many news outlets flooding into the market, social media with instant updates. The market digests that immediately."
Wholesale gasoline prices fell slightly as traders anticipated that people would do less driving in the immediate aftermath of the storm. Gasoline futures fell 2.8 cents to end at $2.7288 a gallon.
In other energy futures trading, crude oil edged up 14 cents to finish at $85.68 a barrel in New York. Natural gas lost 11 cents to finish at $3.69 per 1,000 cubic feet, and heating oil was down 3 cents to end at $3.09 per gallon.
In December metals contracts, gold rose $3.40 to $1,712.10 an ounce. Silver rose 7.1 cents to $31.8160 an ounce, high grade copper rose 1.15 cents to $3.5060 a pound and palladium rose $6.40 to $596.15 an ounce. Platinum for January delivery rose $19.70 to $1,553.60 an ounce.
