Thursday's Commodities Roundup
Thursday May 12, 5:21 pm ET
Dow Jones News Service, Via The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) -- Crude-oil futures in New York plunged nearly $2 Thursday, as rises in oil inventories and the U.S. dollar sent prices to the lowest level in more than 11 weeks.
Domestic commercial oil stocks reached more than a three-year high in government data this week, weighing on prices. And the U.S. dollar's leap Thursday to a high for the year against the euro on strong April retail sales data helped cement the decline. Crude futures, denominated in dollars, often move inversely to the dollar.
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Benchmark light, sweet crude futures for June settled down $1.91 on the New York Mercantile Exchange to $48.54 a barrel -- the lowest front-month settlement since Feb. 18.
Since hitting the week's high above $52 two days ago, the front-month June contract has given up more than $3 of its value, although prices remain up more than 20 percent from a year ago. Thursday's losses extended a sell-off that began Wednesday.
Nymex gasoline futures for June settled at $1.4320 a gallon, down 5 cents, hitting the lowest level in a front month since March 1.
Heating oil futures for the same month ended down 2.35 cents at $1.3796 a gallon -- like crude, the lowest price in a front month since Feb. 18.
While traders called the sell-off impressive, they warned that the market's noncommittal attitude toward recent price fluctuations could keep traders fearful of a reversal.
"Today, the market focus is switching, but the market is fickle," said Seth Keener, an energy broker in Pompano Beach, Fla., for Cromwell Financial Services. "You can't rule out that the uptrend isn't over."
Oil prices have mostly settled above $50 a barrel since mid-February, when traders began focusing on supply concerns in advance of the high-demand summer driving season.
Traders said Thursday that prices would need to settle in the $45 to $47 range to affirm an end to the market's uptrend.
June natural gas fell 17.2 cents on the Nymex to close at $6.511 per million British thermal units.
Precious metals tumbled across the board Thursday, with the declines triggered by another surge in the U.S. dollar and a steep fall in crude oil. Gold and silver fell through key technical levels that exacerbated their losses.
June gold settled down $5.70 to $422.20 an ounce, while July silver lost 13 cents to $6.965 an ounce.
Spot gold closed down $5.50 at $421.40 an ounce.
July copper settled down 6.65 cents to $1.3760 per pound on the Nymex.
Arabica coffee futures for July ended 2.25 cents lower on the New York Board of Trade at $1.2250 a pound.
The cocoa benchmark July contract settled $19 lower at $1,472 a metric ton.
World raw sugar futures for July settled down 0.23 cents at 8.26 cents a pound.
Chicago Board of Trade May corn settled 2 cents lower at $1.9625 per bushel, up from its new low of $1.9550 per bushel.
July soybean futures settled 9.50 cents lower at $6.2350 a bushel.
July wheat ended down 5 cents at $3.0875 a bushel after setting a near 3-month low of $3.07.
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