Stocks & Commodities
Gold and corn hit record highs on Monday, silver touched its highest in 31 years, lead hit a three-year peak and U.S. crude traded at its strongest in two and a half years as investors sought protection from inflation and fretted about supply.
After rallying to a record high of $1,476.21 an ounce in early trade, spot gold eased back to $1,474.90, up $2.20 on the day, while silver traded 5 cents short of its 31-year peak at $41.93 struck earlier.
Brent crude fell by over a dollar after the African Union said Muammar Gaddafi had accepted a roadmap for ending civil war, including an immediate ceasefire.
U.S. crude for May delivery rose 23 cents to $113.02 a barrel and earlier touched $113.46, its highest in more than two and a half years.
U.S. corn futures jumped 2 percent to a record on thinning stockpiles in top exporter the United States, as traders raised doubts about a government report that kept U.S. end-of-season forecast inventories unchanged. The September cotton contract rose 5 percent to $4,637 per ton, while U.S. cotton rose 2 percent to $2.07 a lb, around 10 percent off its contract high.
In base metals, three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange gained 0.7 percent to $9,940 a ton, extending last week's rise of more than 5 percent. LME aluminum reached $2,720, its highest since August 2008.
Stocks mostly fell on Monday as energy shares sold off on lower oil prices and the onset of earnings season was clouded by concern company outlooks may fall short of expectations.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.06 points, or 0.01 percent, at 12,381.11. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 3.71 points, or 0.28 percent, at 1,324.46. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 8.91 points, or 0.32 percent, at 2,771.51.
NYSE shares fell 2.9 percent to $37.59 while Nasdaq OMX fell 1.5 percent to $28.03 and ICE was unchanged at $120.55.
