Word: wheat
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Never had the Continent seen such bustle and palaver on questions that only a few months ago were sacrosanct. European diplomats from both sides of the erstwhile Iron Curtain were talking again. Russia concluded an $800 million wheat deal with Canada, the largest such sale in history. West German Social Democrats and East Ger man Communists were preparing for open debates. The Vatican announced the resumption of relations with Communist Yugoslavia, a hint of ties to other Red nations in the future...
...been drifting sidewise, another exchange has been moving at a furious pace. At Chicago's Board of Trade, biggest and busiest commodity market in the world, pit brokers have perspired through two weeks of record business. On one day, they traded an alltime-high 270 million bushels of wheat, corn, oats, rye and soybeans-an amount almost three times greater than last year's average. Twice the market's opening had to be delayed an hour in order to catch up on paper work, something that had never happened before in the board's 118-year...
Commodities trading is more intricate than stock trading and a lot more hazardous for the unwary. Ranged on the steps of seven pits on Chicago's trading floor, the brokers transact orders for Kansas wheat, Illinois soybeans, or other crops that have not yet been harvested and in some cases not even planted. Sales of such futures are made with hand signals-palm up and in when a broker is buying, or up and out when he is selling. Fingers are held horizontally and manipulated to indicate prices offered or asked. Each contract represents 5,000 bushels...
...hold a contract and when to sell. Prices rise sharply on good news, fall in a matter of minutes on bad news, and gyrate with changes in weather forecasts. Last week's action was generated largely by reports of reduced grain surpluses and the Soviet purchase of Canadian wheat. Two weeks ago, Vice President Humphrey caused a 3% jump in soybean futures by revealing in a speech to farm editors that the soybean surplus this fall will be only 32 million bushels, or a two-week reserve, rather than the 48 million bushels that the Government had previously estimated...
...Soviets intend to use much of the irrigated acreage for wheat. No other large-scale wheat producer uses irrigation, for the simple reason that the method is so costly that other nations prefer to grow more profitable crops and buy the wheat abroad. But the Soviet Union is apparently so set on self-sufficiency that it is willing to pay almost any price for home-grown grain...