Oil, gold, grains prices all decline

December contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude dropped $1.07 to $93.47 per barrel Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude was down 91 cents to $89.72 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London after hitting a new high of $91.71 per barrel during the session.

Some analysts believe that a barrel of crude oil will reach the $100 level at the end of this week or early next week while some traders are now betting on $125 per barrel crude.

Nymex December gasoline was 1 cent higher to $2.34 per gallon on the session, while December heating oil dropped 2 cents to $2.51 per gallon.

December natural gas jumped 30 cents to $8.63 per million British thermal units.

Precious metals prices were mixed.

December gold dropped $1.60 to $793.70 per troy ounce in New York, while December silver fell 11 cents to $14.33 per troy ounce.

Meanwhile, January platinum added $3.20 to $1,450.80 per troy ounce while December palladium gained $1.65 to $375.90 per troy ounce.

In New York, December copper fell 11 cents to $3.36 per pound, while three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange fell $220 to $7,500 per tonne as LME stockpiles of the metal rose to 167,000 tonnes, almost 30 percent higher than at the beginning of October.

Zinc inventories in LME warehouses have gained almost 30 percent just since last week as they have topped the 77,000-tonne level, sending zinc prices down $90 to $2,740 per tonne.

Among other base metals, aluminium dropped $4 to $2,541 per tonne after going as high as $2,567 during the day, while lead was $80 lower to $3,580 per tonne and tin fell $275 to $16,475 per tonne.

Nickel was higher, adding $400 to $32,400 per tonne on higher demand for use in the production of stainless steel in Asia.

December wheat on the Chicago Board of Trade fell by nearly its daily allowed maximum, losing 29.75 cents to $7.78 per bushel, while CBOT January soybeans were 19.25 cents lower to $10.06 per bushel and December corn was down 6.75 cents to $3.68 per bushel.

Meat and livestock prices, were also lower.

January feeder cattle on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange were down 0.001 cent to $1.0830 per pound and December live cattle dropped 0.82 cents to 94.10 cents per pound, while December lean hogs were 1.62 cents lower to 52.25 cents per pound and February pork bellies fell 2.35 cents to 81.70 cents per pound.

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