Business Briefs: Cold, crop boost wheat prices
NEW YORK – Wheat prices are surging this week as temperatures plunge in the U.S. Plains states and after a government report showed domestic supplies slipped.
The price of wheat for December delivery climbed 11 cents, or 2 percent, to $5.54 on Thursday, taking its gains for the week to 7.6 percent. If the crop holds its current level it will be the biggest weekly price surge since March.
Prices started rising Monday when a monthly report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture lowered its estimate for domestic wheat supplies. Weather issues in Australia also have damaged the crop there.
In the corn market, prices also are surging because of the cold weather, said Mike Zuzolo, president of Global Commodity Analytics & Consulting in Atchison, Kansas.
The government still is forecasting a record corn crop this year, but on Monday nudged its estimates lower by 68 million bushels to 14.4 billion bushels. About 20 percent of that crop has yet to be harvested, though, in states including Illinois, Michigan and Nebraska.
While it is unlikely that the crop will be damaged by the plummeting temperatures, the snow and wintry conditions could make it difficult for farmers to gather the crop and for grain trucks to collect and distribute it.
Corn for December delivery rose 8.5 percent, or 2.3 percent, to $3.86 a bushel Thursday. Prices are up 5 percent this week, but are down 9 percent this year.
Baker Hughes in merger talks
HOUSTON – Oilfield-services provider Baker Hughes Inc. said Thursday it is in talks with rival Halliburton Co. about a potential merger.
The company’s brief statement late Thursday said there was no guarantee that a deal would be done and offered no further details.
It came after the Wall Street Journal reported that Halliburton was in talks to buy Baker Hughes. At the start of trading Thursday, Baker Hughes’ stock market value was $22 billion.
Representatives from Halliburton declined to comment.
Halliburton, Baker Hughes and a third major competitor, Schlumberger Ltd., help energy companies find and extract oil and gas.
A combination could give Halliburton and Baker Hughes more power to charge energy companies higher prices, particularly in North America.
Nordstrom beats forecasts
SEATTLE – Nordstrom Inc. shares jumped in extended trading Thursday after the upscale department store operator reported improved fiscal third-quarter sales and profits.
The Seattle-based company earned $142 million, or 73 cents per share, for the period that ended Nov. 1. That’s up from $137 million, or 69 cents per share, last year. The results exceeded Wall Street expectations: Analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research anticipated earnings of 71 cents per share. Nordstrom’s revenue increased 8.9 percent to $3.14 billion, also beating Street forecasts. Analysts expected $3.11 billion, according to Zacks.
The company said that its revenue from its stores open for at least a year rose 3.9 percent.
GM says all families reached
DETROIT – General Motors says it now has contacted the families of the original 13 people whose deaths GM linked to faulty small-car ignition switches to tell them about its compensation program.
The company came under fire this week because one of the families was unaware that a Connecticut mother had died in a crash that GM had blamed on the switches. On Thursday, a U.S. senator and the family’s lawyer called on GM to extend the Dec. 31 deadline to file compensation claims.