Wheat jumps again on worries about dry weather
Wheat futures soared again Friday as more concerns about dry weather hit the market.
Wheat for July delivery rose 37.5 cents, a gain of 5.7 percent, to settle at $6.9525. Corn also rose, but not as much.
The price of wheat has jumped 16 percent this week on worries that dry, hot weather in growing regions in the U.S. could hurt crop yields. A drought in Russia has also affected the crop there.
"It's not only a weather concerns for the Southern Plains, it's also the Ohio River Valley," said Brandon Marshall, a commodity analyst at Northstar Commodity in Minneapolis. "It's a weather-driven rally."
July corn rose 10.5 cents, a gain of 1.7 percent, to settle at $6.3550. Corn is up 9 percent this week. Soybeans fell 33 cents to settle at $14.05.
In other commodities trading, gold for June delivery rose 1.1 percent, or $17, to $1,591.90 per ounce.
May silver rose 2.5 percent, or 69.8 cents, to $28.694 per ounce. July platinum rose $5.90 to $1,459.30 per ounce. June palladium fell $2.25 to $603.60
May copper edged down 1 penny to $3.4695 per pound.
Benchmark U.S. crude fell $1.08 to finish at $91.48 per barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price many international varieties of oil, fell 35 cents to end at $107.14 in London.
Heating oil fell 1.9 cents to finish at $2.83 per gallon, gasoline futures rose 1.13 cents to end at $2.8895 per gallon and natural gas increased 14.8 cents to finish at $2.742 per 1,000 cubic feet.
