Intensifying In Kansas
Wheat futures rallied to six-week highs
today on the Chicago Board of Trade after crop conditions declined in Kansas,
the largest winter-wheat producing state.
Wheat rose on news that drought stress is intensifying in Kansas, putting
pressure on the winter-wheat crop. Nearly half the crop is now deemed in poor to
very poor condition. The contract for May delivery
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cents or 1.15% to $2.87 a bushel.
This was the second consecutive day of strong upside movement for wheat.
Corn, ended up rallying to the upside today, after two consecutive sessions of
contract lows. May corn
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bushel.
Soybeans posted strong gains in cautious trading ahead of a key government
report this coming Thursday. The report will include the latest planting
projections, which will confirm or deny rumors of a big South American crop in
the making. May soybeans
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bushel.
Stocks ended higher Tuesday, though major indexes surrendered a lump of the
gains logged earlier after the release of a pair of upbeat economic reports.
The June Dow Jones Industrial Average
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10384.000. The June Nasdaq 100
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The June Standard & Poor’s 500
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futures climbed 6.30 to 1142.100. The DJM2, NDM2 and SPM2 all ended positive
after five straight losing sessions.
Earlier in the day, new consumer-confidence and durable-goods reports sent major
indexes up by much larger margins — at one point. In the energy futures, oil futures were modestly higher at midday and
were able to hang on to those gains to the end of the session. May crude-oil
futures
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New York Mercantile Exchange. April Heating oil
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cents to 66.00 cents a gallon; May unleaded gasoline
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1.30 cents to 80.78. cents a gallon.
Precious metals were trading mostly lower as mostly profit-taking put
pressure on gold prices. April gold
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New York Mercantile Exchange dropped to an intraday low of $295.80 and rebounded
to trade at $296.80 a troy ounce, $1 lower from Monday. May silver
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penetrate $4.60. May copper
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