Commodities: Gold Futures, Crude Oil Drop

Gold and crude oil were among the losers in the commodity market Monday, as most energy, metals and agricultural contracts pulled back.

Oil for May delivery was down $1.46 to $51.05 a barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange late in the day, while reformulated gasoline fell more than 1 cent to $1.48 a gallon.

Meanwhile, gold slumped $24.50 to $872.80 an ounce, and silver slid 63 cents to $12.11 an ounce. Copper was little changed.

On the ag side, wheat, sugar, soybeans, cocoa, coffee and cotton declined. Corn and frozen concentrated orange juice were higher. Lean hogs dropped, but cattle edged ahead. The Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index lost 5.12 points to 223.81.

As for commodity-related stocks,

Rio Tinto

(RTP)

fell 12.4% to $130.99 after reports it might be considering a multibillion-dollar rights issue.

Mining-equipment companies

Joy Global

(JOYG)

and

Bucyrus International

(BUCY)

were upgraded at JPMorgan, but both shares traded lower by about 1%.

Exxon Mobil

(XOM) - Get Report

was down 1.2% at $69.57, and fellow oil major

Chevron

(CVX) - Get Report

was off 1.8% at $69.21. The

U.S. Oil

(USO) - Get Report

exchange-traded fund was falling 2.4% to $30.18.

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