Crude prices down; metals mixed as grains move higher

Crude oil prices fell on concerns that slowing economic growth will cut demand for gasoline and diesel after new data out of the US showed both housing starts and industrial production were down again.

July contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude were 71 cents lower to $133.90 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange while Brent crude dropped $1.16 to $133.55 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Nymex natural gasoline, heating oil, and natural gas futures were all also slightly lower ahead of the weekly Energy Information Administration inventories report, due Wednesday.

Comments from Kuwait’s finance minister than oil prices are too high also helped send prices lower, as did the news that a North Sea drilling platform hit by a fire over the weekend could be back in production this week.

Metals prices were mixed as August gold had added 30 cents to $886.60 per troy ounce just before the close of floor trade in New York, while at the same time July platinum was up $13.60 to $2,064.30 per troy ounce but July silver dropped 17 cents to $17.06 per troy ounce.

Among base metals, September copper was down 1 cent to $3.65 per pound in New York while three-month copper was down $10 to $8,090 per tonne in London even though London Metal Exchange stockpiles were up and protests in Peru limited production at some mines.

Grains prices were higher as the US Midwest got too much rain and Australia’s wheat-growing regions got too little.

July and September contracts for corn on the Chicago Board of Trade were each down 9 cents, to $7.42 per bushel for July contracts and to $7.56 for September contracts as only 78 percent of the crop had emerged by June 1 compared with an emergence of 92 percent at the same time last year.

CBOT July soybeans were up 24 cents to $15.58 per bushel while September contracts were up 26 cents to $15.52 per bushel as about 84 percent of the crop was in the ground as opposed to the 95 percent of the crop that the US Department of Agriculture said had been planted by the same date last year.

Wheat prices were up 21 cents to $8.98 per bushel for July contracts on CBOT while September contracts had added 22 cents to $9.16 per bushel on worries that the Australian drought will hurt yields there.

Story link: Crude prices down; metals mixed as grains move higher