Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Fertilizers (POT) (AGU) (MOS) Drop as Commodities Correct

A general correction in commodities prices spurred by the plunge in oil prices pressured the agriculture sector as well, with Potash Corp. (NYSE:POT), Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) and Agrium (NYSE:AGU) all closing down Tuesday.

Crude oil prices for May delivery fell as much as 63 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $105.62 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract was at $106.01 at 10:14 a.m. Sydney time. Yesterday, it fell $3.67 to $106.25. Prices dropped 5.9 percent on April 11 and 12.

The U.S. raised its crude-oil price projection for 2011 to an average $106.38 a barrel from $101.77 in March, according to the Energy Department’s Short-Term Energy Outlook.

Potash closed Tuesday at $56.13, falling $0.93, or 1.63 percent. Agrium closed at $89.12, down $1.55, or 1.71 percent. Mosaic closed at $76.67, dropping $1.53, or 1.96 percent.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Tuesday was also the ex-dividend date for POT.
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/ex-dividend.asp