Oil, grains, most metals see declines

Crude oil prices were lower in New York Thursday and are now nearly $100 below July’s record highs.

January contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude were down $2.99 to $50.63 per barrel at just less than an hour before the close of floor trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange after falling below $50 per barrel for a time, while at last report Brent crude for January delivery had dropped $1.39 to $50.33 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Nymex Decmeber gasoline futures dropped 5 cents in afternoon trade to $1.06 per gallon.

Meanwhile, the average at-the-pump price for gasoline in the United States, meanwhile, has now dropped below $2 per gallon in 23 of the 50 US states as the retail price for regular unleaded was down another 2.7 cents overnight to $2.02 per gallon on average nationally.

Demand concerns sent base metals prices lower again.

March copper was down 4 cents to $1.57 per pound in afternoon trade in New York while three-month copper fell $110 to $3,480 per tonne in London on inventories in London Metal Exchange warehouses that have increased by nearly 40,000 tonnes just since the beginning of November.

Aluminium was down $93 to $1,785 per tonne in London while lead was down about $45 to trade in a range around $1,185 per tonne, zinc was $4 lower to $1,180 per tonne, nickel was down $350 to $9,950 per tonne and tin dropped $605 to $11,300 per tonne.

In afternoon trade in New York, December gold was up $11.80 to $747.80 per troy ounce on the chance that the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates again, but December silver dropped 27 cents to $9.04 per troy ounce.

Earlier, January platinum was down $13.30 to $823.70 per troy ounce.

Chicago Board of Trade grains prices also fell on demand concerns, with December corn down 14 cents to $3.64 per bushel while December wheat fell 15 cents to $5.12 per bushel and January soybeans dropped 36 cents to $8.61 per bushel.

Story link: Oil, grains, most metals see declines