Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 17, Number 17, DeMotte, Jasper County, 21 March 1947 — WHEAT PRICE SOARS TO $3 AT CHICAGO [ARTICLE]

WHEAT PRICE SOARS TO $3 AT CHICAGO

Directors of Board of Trade Place Restrictions on Speculation To Halt Increases Chicago, March 21. The price .. , * . or wheat soareu amove 83 per bushel for the first time in 30 years in a buying splurge on the Chicago Board of Trade today. then suddenly tumbled the full trading limit and closed as much as 18U* cents below the day’s top: price. The break in prices, matched at the grain markets in Kansas City and Minneapolis. \yas attributed in' part: to tighter restrictions on speculation which were clamped, on the Chicago board today. The Continuing upward J rend in ' wheat prices in recent already lias been reflected on the ; retail level and observers said .the generally higher level of market price-s • despite today’s break - would further pinch the budgets of housewives-* ip purchases of flour and bread. . . ' - The .price of most bread jumped one cent a loaf in Chicago ‘yesterday. New- York reported today; that bread flour price's were raised 10 to 25 cents per hundred- ; weight while pastry flour prices ! were boosted 55 to* 85 cents pej , sack. Similar increases were 1 noted elsewhcjre last week. , It was the fifth time, in the Chicago board’s 99-year history i that wheat futures contracts had 1 passed the $3 mark. The market i opened today with skyrocketing! prices, March wheat hitting a top of $3 05 per bushel. Brokers Have been trading far ; months in March wheat wheat that was harvested last summer. Trading in March wheat ends in. j only five! days/ and traders have j had difficulty in obtaining the actual wheat to meet their con- i tract commitments. As a result of feverish buying tip* price, has advanced steadily. When trading began, traders, J who were short of actual wheat found themselves unable to ’ obtain it and hid up the price. - An! hour before the close traders he-, came noticeably neryoUs, Trading ! changed from a buyer’s, to a sel- ; levs’ market at marry dealers sold j to equalize their contract hold- j ings with the amount of spot grain they were obligated to deliver. The tumble in prices was quickened by stop-loss selling orders. March wheat which had climbed -to within I Vz cents of the 10-cent trading limit dropped quickly, passed yesterday’s close of $2.90 U and then dropped the full t rading - limit of 10 cents to SI.SOU*.-a, full 10 cents below yesterday’s close.