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Corn Leads Grains Lower

Simon Constable

Corn prices were tumbling Monday on concerns that a forecast for a bumper crop could swamp the market.

Benchmark futures prices for corn were losing 4.6% at $3.52 a bushel in recent market action.

Other key grains were showing weakness also, with soybeans sliding 2.9% at $9.22 a bushel and wheat easing 1.7% at $6.11 a bushel. Sugar prices were bucking the downward trend, gaining 1% at 10 cents a pound.

The PowerShares DB Agriculture(DBA Quote) exchange-traded fund, which tracks prices of corn, soybeans, wheat and sugar, was losing 1.5% recently.

In the agricultural complex, shares of Corn Products International(CPO Quote) were off about 1.1% with the weakness in the grains weighing on the stock price. Grain processor Archer Daniels Midland(ADM Quote) was edging slightly higher.

Shares of packaged-foods company ConAgra(CAG Quote) were down 0.6%.

As for the metals, copper prices were slipping 2 cents at $3.58 a pound, while silver was up 2 cents at $13.13 an ounce. Gold was gaining $1.20 at $668.50 an ounce in New York futures market trading.

Mining giant BHP(BHP Quote) will decide within two weeks whether it will bid for Alcoa(AA Quote) according to a report in The Australian newspaper in Sydney.

Shares of BHP were losing 2%, while Alcoa was edging 0.1% higher.

Elsewhere, the greenback was mixed in the foreign currency markets. The dollar was lower against the yen, buying 121.76, down from 122.01 late Friday. One euro was worth $1.3781 vs. $1.3787 previously, and the pound was at $2.0374, up from $2.0342.