Written by Sumit Roy  |

October 11, 2012

Market Wrap: NatGas, Corn Surge After Supply Reports, Brent At 1-Month High, Gold Up On Strong Labor Data

Details

Commodities rose across the board.

Commodities rose across the board today after the release of encouraging labor data in the U.S. Corn and natural gas were the best performers by far thanks to bullish supply data from the USDA and EIA, respectively.

In today's macroeconomic news, the Department of Labor said that the number of people filing for unemployment benefits in the U.S. plunged last week by 30K to 339K—the lowest level since February 2008.

The figures are the latest indication that the labor market may be improving. Last week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said that the unemployment rate fell from 8.1 to 7.8 percent—the lowest rate since January 2009.

The U.S. Dollar Index fell by 0.2 percent to 79.76.

• Gold and silver joined today's broad-based rally. The yellow metal was last trading up by $5.85, or 0.33 percent, to $1768.20, while the gray metal added $0.08, or 0.22 percent, to $34.06.
  
  Platinum gained $8.50, or 0.51 percent, to $1682.25 and palladium edged up by $1.50, or 0.23 percent, to $651.25.
  
  "We have been seeing a bit of demand coming out of the woodwork. It's nothing huge, but it was better than it has been previously," said MKS Finance Head of Trading Afshin Nabavi. "Overall, it feels as though we may have found a base for gold at the moment and now we have to try the higher end of the range at $1,775/80."
  
  
• Crude oil rose today. In its Weekly Petroleum Status report, the EIA said that U.S. crude oil inventories increased by 1.7 million barrels, gasoline inventories decreased by 0.5 million barrels, distillate inventories decreased by 3.2 million barrels and total petroleum inventories decreased by 4.4 million barrels last week.
  
  Brent was last trading up by $1.19, or 1.04 percent, to $115.54 after reaching $116 earlier—a one-month high. WTI added $0.77, or 0.84 percent, to $92.
  
  
• Natural gas surged to a 10-month high after the EIA reported that operators injected 72 billion cubic feet into storage last week, below the 76 to 80 bcf that most analysts were expecting. Prices were last trading up by $0.13, or 3.86 percent, to $3.61/mmbtu.
  
  
• Grains were higher today after the latest supply and demand data from the USDA reignited corn supply concerns. The department lowered its forecast for corn production this season from 10.727 billion bushels to 10.706 billion. Though that was above the 10.642 billion that analysts were expecting, speculation was that the department could have lifted its forecast even more given the rapid pace of the harvest.
  
  Soybeans output is projected to total 2.86 billion bushels, up from the prior forecast of 2.634 billion and above the 2.76 billion that analysts had anticipated.
  
  Corn was last trading up by $0.37, or 4.99 percent, to $7.74/bushel, while soybeans jumped $0.27, or 1.79 percent, to $15.51 and wheat advanced $0.17, or 1.93 percent, to $8.87.
  
  
• Copper was last trading up by $0.03, or 0.82 percent, to $3.75/lb on Comex.