Commodity Corner

The stronger dollar takes the air out an historic surge in crude futures Monday; gold too is off this morning. The spotlight on commodities trading trends continues; the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is reviewing the spike in oil on Monday.

Analysts say the wild swings in commodities prices don’t appear to be the work solely of investment funds, Rene Pastor reports today. “I have no problem with how the markets have acted and continue to act. That is not to say I always like what I see or do not feel the stress of the volatility, I sure do,” Jack Scoville, vice president of brokers the Price Group in Chicago, tells us.

On the plate today:

• Senate Energy Committee hearing on high cost of diesel fuel, witnesses include EIA administrator Howard Gruenspecht and National Petrochemical and Refiners Association President Charlie Drevna
• Senate to vote on legislation extending renewable energy tax credits
• Thin ethanol supplies for the interharvest period in Brazil. Local ethanol prices started to rise.
• Federal prosecutors are looking into possible price-fixing by egg companies and California tomato processors, the Wall Street Journal reports.

 (Pictured: Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Industries, holds a jar containing the first crude oil produced from their company’s KG-D6 block in the country’s east coast at a news conference in Mumbai September 21, 2008/REUTERS)