Crude oil prices fall after early gains

Crude oil prices were up early Monday, pushed up by concerns that Israel could attack Iran over Iran’s nuclear ambitions, but later in the session prices fell to slightly below Friday’s levels on a report from the US Energy Information Administration that said US demand in April was down more than earlier reports indicated.

August contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude oil ended the floor trading session down 21 cents to $140 per barrel, but only after rising to a new record of $143.67 per barrel earlier in the day.

Brent crude for August delivery dropped 13 cents to $140.18 per barrel after also setting a new record high price at $143.91 per barrel.

At last report, Nymex August gasoline had dropped 2 cents to $3.50 per gallon while August heating oil was up 2 cents to $3.96 per gallon and August natural gas had gained 8 cents to $13.28 per million British thermal units.

Precious metals prices were mixed Monday.

October platinum added $9.60 to $2,072 per troy ounce on the news of a smelter closure in South Africa, but August gold was $3.50 lower to $927.80 per troy ounce while September silver was down 20 cents to $17.51 per troy ounce after the US dollar recovered earlier losses against the euro.

Among base metals, September copper traded about even at $3.88 per pound in New York while three-month copper in London dropped about $10 from Friday’s close to $8,260 per tonne.

Other base metals prices were mixed, with tin a bit higher to close at $23,450 per tonne in London.

Nickel and zinc both remained unchanged at $23,950 per tonne and $1,930 per tonne respectively, while aluminium fell $5.50 to $3,114.50 per tonne and lead dropped $10 to $1,790 per tonne.

In news of other commodities, a new report showed that cotton acreage in the United States is at its lowest level in a quarter-century, with farmers planting more corn and soybeans as prices for those grains have risen.

The largest declines were in California and Mississippi, while only Oklahoma and Virginia increased the number of acres planted.

Still, because the US Department of Agriculture said that more cotton has been planted this year than had been forecast, prices were down nearly 2 cents to 79.5 cents per pound in mid-morning trade on the ICE Futures US exchange in New York.

Among grains, wheat futures suffered their biggest one-day decline in 10 weeks on the Chicago Board of Trade after more spring wheat acreage than was expected was planted in order to take advantage of higher prices, with 14.197 million acres planted in April and May, 6.8 percent more than last year according to USDA data.

CBOT September wheat futures were down 53 cents to $8.58 per bushel, while December corn was also lower, dropping 30 cents to $7.57 per bushel but November soybeans added 14 cents to $15.74 per bushel.

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