Crude oil leads commodities prices lower

Crude oil prices fell as low as $119.50 per barrel during the session Monday, its lowest level since May 6, after Tropical Storm Edouard lost strength in the Gulf of Mexico and looked like it would miss oil facilities in the region as well as on worries about demand and the possibility of a compromise over US offshore drilling.

September contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude closed down $3.69 to $121.41 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange while Brent crude dropped $3.28 to $120.90 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Nymex September gasoline futures were down 8 cents near the close to $3 per gallon while September heating oil fell 9 cents to $3.35 per gallon and September natural gas dropped $61 cents to $8.78 per million British thermal units.

Base metals prices fell significantly on inventory gains for several metals which raised concerns that demand is on the decline.

September copper was down 14 cents to $3.44 per pound in New York while three-month copper in London dropped $290, or 3.7 percent, to $7,610 per tonne as London Metal Exchange stockpiles jumped by 1,550 tonnes on the session.

Aluminium prices fell $52 to $2,882 per tonne, while lead was down $126 to $2,000 per tonne and tin
prices fell $900 to $20,600 per tonne as inventories for all three also saw gains.

Additionally, zinc was down $71 to $1,769 per tonne and nickel declined $275 to $18,025 per tonne.

Among precious metals, December gold was down $9.50 to $908 per troy ounce in New York, while September silver fell 37 cents to $17.15 per troy ounce and October platinum plummeted $90.30 to $1,565 per troy ounce as demand for the metals as a safe place to shelter against inflation declined with oil prices.

Grains prices were down as well.

Wheat prices on the Chicago Board of Trade, with September contracts falling 35 cents to $7.58 per bushel, were down on the possibility that demand for the grain as livestock feed will decline due to falling corn prices.

In addition, CBOT December corn was down 29 cents to $5.55 per bushel while November soybeans dropped 70 cents to $12.95 per bushel.

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