Soybeans rise as US jobless-rate dip boosts commodity outlook
Sunday, 9 August 2009
NEW YORK, Aug. 8 (Bloomberg): Soybeans rose, gaining for a second straight week, as the US unemployment rate dropped, reviving speculation that demand for commodities will increase as the recession eases.
The pace of US job losses slowed last month and the unemployment rate declined for the first time since April 2008, the Labor Department reported today. Losses were less than estimated by economists, who also projected a higher jobless rate. US equities jumped and the Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of 19 raw materials headed for a 2.7 per cent weekly gain.
"At least we know unemployment is going down," said Roy Huckabay, a Linn Group executive vice president in Chicago. "That caught most of us by surprise. The stock indexes rallied off of that."
Soybean futures for November delivery rose 8.5 cents, or 0.8 per cent, to $10.385 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade. The price climbed 5.8 per cent this week.
Futures also advanced after palm oil jumped the most in 18 weeks on speculation that dry weather in Indonesia and Malaysia will lower yields and reduce output. Higher palm-oil prices increase the appeal of alternatives, including soybean oil.
Palm oil for October delivery rose 0.7 per cent to 2,341 ringgit ($669) a metric ton on the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange. Palm oil rallied 6.9 per cent this week, the most since the week ended April 3.
Indonesia may miss next year's palm-oil production target by as much as 20 per cent if dry weather develops from a climate pattern called El Nino, Achmad Manggabarani, the director general of plantations at the country's farm ministry, said on July 21. El Nino causes surface-water temperatures to decline in the western Pacific Ocean, which can lead to droughts in Indonesia and Australia, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The US soybean crop, at $27.4 billion last year, trails only corn in value, government figures show. The US is the world's biggest grower and exporter of the oilseed.
The pace of US job losses slowed last month and the unemployment rate declined for the first time since April 2008, the Labor Department reported today. Losses were less than estimated by economists, who also projected a higher jobless rate. US equities jumped and the Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of 19 raw materials headed for a 2.7 per cent weekly gain.
"At least we know unemployment is going down," said Roy Huckabay, a Linn Group executive vice president in Chicago. "That caught most of us by surprise. The stock indexes rallied off of that."
Soybean futures for November delivery rose 8.5 cents, or 0.8 per cent, to $10.385 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade. The price climbed 5.8 per cent this week.
Futures also advanced after palm oil jumped the most in 18 weeks on speculation that dry weather in Indonesia and Malaysia will lower yields and reduce output. Higher palm-oil prices increase the appeal of alternatives, including soybean oil.
Palm oil for October delivery rose 0.7 per cent to 2,341 ringgit ($669) a metric ton on the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange. Palm oil rallied 6.9 per cent this week, the most since the week ended April 3.
Indonesia may miss next year's palm-oil production target by as much as 20 per cent if dry weather develops from a climate pattern called El Nino, Achmad Manggabarani, the director general of plantations at the country's farm ministry, said on July 21. El Nino causes surface-water temperatures to decline in the western Pacific Ocean, which can lead to droughts in Indonesia and Australia, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The US soybean crop, at $27.4 billion last year, trails only corn in value, government figures show. The US is the world's biggest grower and exporter of the oilseed.