Wheat Falls for Third Straight Week

Wheat fell for the third consecutive week, as traders factored in the prospect of cooler, wetter weather in coming months that could help crops.

The price of wheat for delivery in July dropped 5.25 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $6.28 a bushel. Wheat fell 3.9 percent for the week, and is down 13 percent in the last three weeks.

Wheat is also falling as traders become less concerned that the tensions in Ukraine will escalate to such an extent that they disrupt the nation’s export of the grain.

Forecasters expect “nice clement temperatures, nothing too hot and precipitation is timely,” said Mike Zuzolo, president of Global Commodity Analytics and Consulting.

Corn for July dropped 3.75 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $4.66 a bushel on Friday. Soybeans fell 5.75 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $14.93 a bushel.

Most metals fell, led by a drop in silver futures.

Silver for July fell 33.20 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $18.68 an ounce. Gold for August fell $11.10, or 0.9 percent, to $1,246 an ounce. Copper for July fell 2.1 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $3.12 per pound. Platinum for the same month dropped $7.40, or 0.5 percent, to $1,452.70 an ounce.

Palladium for September edged up $1.85, or 0.2 percent, to $836.35 an ounce.

This article appeared in print in the June 2nd, 2014 edition of Hamodia.