Commodities Close Higher Across The Board

Commodities finished higher across the board today, led by a 5.4% rally in grains. May wheat surged 7.9% to close at $7.14 per bushel, while May corn ended limit up at $6.46, higher by 4.9%… The Energy sector added 3.4%, led by a 5.7% rally in April natural gas, which closed at $4.16 per MMBtu. It notched highs at $4.16, its best levels in close to 1.5 months. This morning’s larger than expected draw down in inventories acted as the catalyst to today’s rally. April crude oil surged 3.5% to close at $101.42 per barrel, its best close in around a week. Today’s session was substantially less volatile than the previous, evidenced by the absence of short volatile moves in prices. With the risk trade back for the time being, markets once again refocused on the Middle East… Precious metals, which gained 0.2% on the day, were the laggard sector today. It was a relatively quiet session for the precious metal as April gold finished higher by 0.5% to $1403.80 per ounce and May silver ended lower by 0.5% to $34.25 per ounce. (Dow +1.2%, Nasdaq +1%, S&P +1.3%