After sliding as much as 1% on Monday, equity futures are pointing to a comeback on Tuesday following the news that Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered troops in western Russia to return home by the end of the week. Russian forces remain in the Crimea, but the pull-out from near the western border of Ukraine is a significant effort by the Russians to cool things off.
The equities futures market is faring better about three hours before markets open Tuesday morning. DJIA futures are up 1%, S&P 500 futures are up 1% and the Nasdaq 100 is up 1.12%.
On the commodities markets, crude oil prices have lost about half the gains they made Monday. The price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) has lost 1.41% to trade at $103.44, and Brent crude is down 1.89% at $109.31. It made little sense for the prices to rise so far Monday, but when it comes to oil markets traders often pull the trigger before they have taken the time to aim. Russia, the world’s largest exporter of crude, was never going to withdraw barrels from the market — it needs the revenues.
Corn and wheat prices have given back about half the gains they made Monday as well. On the Chicago Board of Trade, corn gained 1.35% to trade at nearly $4.70 a bushel. The price slipped about 0.7% Tuesday morning to around $4.67. Wheat rose more than 4% Monday to trade around $6.27 a bushel, but that has fallen about 1.15% this morning to $6.24. Prices likely will fall even more as the day progresses.
The PowerShares DB Agriculture ETF (NYSEMKT: DBA) closed up 2.52% in Monday trading at $28.06, after hitting a new 52-week high of $28.08. The low is $24.04. Volume hit six times the daily average of around 600,000 shares traded.
The Teucrium Corn Fund (NYSEMKT: CORN) closed up 1.51%, at $32.97 in a 52-week range of $29.50 to $44.22. Volume was about seven times the daily average of about 135,000.
The Teucrium Wheat Fund (NYSEMKT: WEAT) closed up 6.35%, at $15.41 in a 52-week range of $13.31 to $19.71. Volume was 10 times the daily average of about 21,000.
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