Wheat fell by the most allowed by the Chicago Board of Trade on Tuesday. December wheat fell 30 cents a bushel to $8.41. The drop took wheat away from a weekly high. The grain moved lower amid reports of a higher crop in Pakistan that could reduce demand. The U.S. Department of Agriculture also released the weekly progress report for 18 states that accounted for 92% of last year's wheat acreage. The USDA said 82% of winter wheat has been planted in the week ended Oct. 21, up from 73% in the prior week. This is down from last year's figures of 82%. The report said 57% of winter wheat has emerged, up from 42% last week's revised figures. On Monday, the USDA revealed that weekly wheat inspections were at about 26.7 million bushels. This is in-line with expectations of 24-35 million bushels. It is 8 million bushels below last week's figures, but up 63.5% from last year. Gold prices finished the session higher on Tuesday in U.S. trading. December gold closed at $763.10, up $3.10 on the session. Prices climbed as high as $765.40 in the early morning and then dropped back below its flat-mark in the late morning before recovering. The metal recouped some of its losses from Monday, when it dropped by $8.40. Before the rally, gold had been trending higher for about 2 ½ weeks. Tuesday, bullion edged higher as the U.S. dollar saw some weakness. The greenback fell away from near-term highs against the euro and sterling in Tuesday morning trading. Gold generally moves opposite the dollar because of the precious metal's hedge appeal. With the greenback struggling in recent months, the price of gold climbed to its highest levels in more than a quarter-century. Crude oil declined on Tuesday in U.S. trading as December took over as the front-month contract. Light sweet crude for December delivery was at $85.27, down 75 cents on the session. Oil fell as low as $84.82, but was able to pare some of those losses. November crude closed at $87.56 on Monday. Oil dropped by $1.04 on Monday as violence eased in the Middle East. Last week, crude hit a record-high of $90.07, topping $90 for the first time. This is still below the inflation-adjusted record levels of $101.70, reached in April of 1980. Before the recent decline, crude had been trending sharply higher for a little more than a week, adding about $10 to the price in that span. Traders anxiously await Wednesday's inventory report, which could push crude to record numbers again. Last week's data from the Energy Information Administration revealed a bigger than expected increase in crude oil inventories. The report showed that stockpiles increased by 1.8 million barrels in the week ended October 12 following an unexpected decrease of 1.7 million barrels in the previous week. The economic calendar was light on Tuesday. The biggest news of the week will come on Thursday as durable goods data and new home sales data is scheduled to be released, as well as the weekly jobless claims report. On Friday, the University of Michigan will release its consumer confidence report for October.
October 23, 2007 5:46 PM