Commodities Advance as Drop to 10-Month Low Attracts Buyers

The Standard & Poor?€™s GSCI index of 24 raw materials climbed 0.2 percent to settle at 600.37 at 3:46 p.m. in New York, snapping a three-session slump. Earlier, the gauge slumped as much as 2.6 percent to the lowest since Dec. 1.

Next week, European Central Bank policy makers may discuss restarting covered-bond purchases and other measures to ease monetary conditions. The S&P 500 Index of equities climbed as much as 2.4 percent. Cattle, natural gas and coffee led the commodity rebound.

?€œIt?€™s a recovery in risk assets,?€ Nic Johnson, who helps manage about $30 billion in commodities at Pacific Investment Management Co. in Newport Beach, California, said in a telephone interview. ?€œDeleveraging is starting to slow on reduced concerns about the events in Europe, and as it does, there?€™s some incremental consumer buying that?€™s starting to move higher.?€

The GSCI has dropped 21 percent from a 32-month high in April. Money managers cut the combined net-long position in 18 commodity futures and options by 20 percent in the week ended Sept. 20, the most since February 2010, government data showed.

Today, coffee futures in New York had the biggest gain in five weeks. Cattle jumped the most allowed by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and natural gas climbed 2.2 percent, ending a four-session slide.

Prices rose because of ?€œold-fashioned selling exhaustion,?€ James Dailey, who manages $215 million at TEAM Financial Management LLC in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, said in a telephone interview.

--With assistance from Maria Kolesnikova in London and Chanyaporn Chanjaroen in Singapore. Editors: Patrick McKiernan, Steve Stroth

To contact the reporter on this story: Elizabeth Campbell in Chicago at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Authors: Commodities - Yahoo! News Search Results

Read more: