Here's a look at commodities for Wednesday, December 22nd. Copper is steady at $4.28 after reaching a fresh two-year high on Tuesday and February Crude Oil futures are back above $90 a barrel as commodities continued their year-end advance.
Copper futures were down slightly at London Metals Exchange overnight as inventories grew, easing supply concerns. Declines in Chinese equities also slowed the metal's record run.
Crude currently is at $90.18 a barrel, up $0.36 from Tuesday's settlement.
Gold also is steady, adding $0.06 to $1389 an ounce in Comex trade in New York this morning with market watchers saying the end of selling by the IMF of a portion of its precious metal reserves is contributing to bullish attitudes by removing a supply source.
In company news, Constellation Energy Partners (CEP) said it closed on the purchase of 36 wells in northern Kansas and southern Nebraska from a private seller for $5.9 million. The properties currently produce about 126 barrels of oil equivalent per day and contain proved reserves of about 170,000 barrels of oil equivalent.
SM Energy (SM) yesterday said it expects 2011 production in a range of 125 billion to 132 billion cubic feet equivilents (bcfe), up from 109 bcfe during 2010. It also said roughly 80% of the company's $830 million drilling budget next year will be deployed in the Eagle Ford shale program in Texas and the Bakken/Three Forks program in North Dakota. The total 2011 capital budget will be $1.04 billion.
