Pressure Building
Grain and soybean futures were mixed today on
the Chicago Board of Trade. Corn and soybeans were pressured by investor
uncertainty about economic, export and weather developments.
May soybeans
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uneasiness about the potential for a big selloff. The initial support for May
beans is at 461.000 and secondary support is at 457.000. The market also was
cautious ahead of the government’s quarterly report on grain stocks and annual
prospective plantings set for release on Thursday. May soybeans fell 3.00 cents
or .65% to $4.61 1/2 a bushel.
Wheat was lower for part of the trading session when four to seven inches of
snow fell from northwestern Kansas into extreme southeastern Nebraska early
Monday, adding needed soil moisture. Wheat for May delivery
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ended positive on the day to $2.83 1/2 a bushel, up 1.75.
Corn edged lower on pessimism about the prospective plantings report on
Thursday. May corn
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.61%.
Stocks lost ground Monday as investors
troubled about the possibility of interest-rate increases and braced themselves
for the coming earnings-pre-announcement season.
The June Dow Jones Industrial Average futures
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points, or 1.24%, to 10301.000. The June Nasdaq 100 futures
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lost 46.00, or 3.1%, to 1436.00.
The June Standard & Poor’s 500
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1135.800. The DJM2. NDM2 and SPM2 have all made new 5 day lows.
Bonds and the dollar were mixed.
Profit-taking weighed on oil futures. May crude-oil
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futures fell 36 cents or 1.42% to $24.99 a barrel on the New York Mercantile
Exchange. May Heating oil
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gallon; May unleaded gasoline
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cents a gallon and May natural gas
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$3.46 per million British thermal units.
After a strong rally on Friday April gold
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division of the New York Mercantile Exchange continued to stay positive through
most of today’s trading. April gold ended today’s session at 297.70 up .10.
May silver
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cents higher than Friday. May copper
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1.100.
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