Soybeans Rise After Rain Brings Fear of Crop Delay

Soybeans are rising on speculation that wet weather in the Midwest will delay crop planting.

July soybeans climbed 33 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $15.0925 a bushel Tuesday.

Repeated thunderstorms in parts of the Midwest have led to between 2 and 6 inches of rainfall in the past several days, according to the Weather Channel.

Corn also rose. The July contract rose 9.25 cents to $6.665 a bushel. Wheat slipped 3.75 cents to $6.9375.

In metals trading, gold and silver prices fell while other futures rose.

June gold fell $7.70 to $1,378.90 an ounce. July silver fell 30.3 cents to $22.193 an ounce.

July copper rose 1.95 cents to $3.315 a pound. Platinum for delivery in the same month rose $9.90 to $1,461.80 an ounce. June palladium rose $30.55 to $757 an ounce.

Energy prices mostly rose. Crude oil rose 86 cents to $95.01 a barrel in New York.

Oil’s gain could be fleeting if recent concerns about demand resurface. China, which has seen a decline in manufacturing activity, releases data on factory production later this week. In the U.S., demand for gasoline has been weaker compared with last year. And bad weather in some regions over the Memorial Day weekend may have kept drivers closer to home, wrote Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at The PRICE Futures Group, in a daily newsletter.

The average price for a gallon of gas fell over the long weekend, by 2 cents, to $3.63. That’s a penny less than at this time last year.

Brent crude, a benchmark for many international oil varieties, was up $1.61 to $104.23 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

In other energy futures trading on Nymex:

— Wholesale gasoline rose 1 cent to $2.85 a gallon.

— Heating oil climbed 5 cents to $2.91 per gallon.

— Natural gas shed 6 cents to $4.17 per 1,000 cubic feet.