World Business

NEW YORK —

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The merchandise boom that just weeks ago looked unstoppable may have finally burned itself out.

Sudden plunges in the price of everything from crude to copper and cotton suggest commodities soared too high, too fast - and analysts count upon even steeper declines in the months ahead as the U.S. economic slowdown spreads overseas and saps demand for energy, construction supplies and consumer goods.

Though commodities could hang higher again if the U.S. economy bounces back or cosmos oil supplies suddenly become scarce, experts mind neither scenario appears likely for several months or longer.

“The downward pace still has a way to go,” related Edward Meir, senior commodities analyst at MF Global in New York. “People are at this time coming about to the fact that growth is slowing, both in the U.S. and overseas, so demand for commodities will decline.”

At least some of the falling prices in commodities trading pits are probable to strain back prostrate to consumers. Lower oil prices act it cheaper to ship food around the globe, and ease the burden on consumers when they fill their aeriform fluid tanks and heat their homes. Falling prices for cereal grain and soybeans should also have some impact on what shoppers pay in the supermarket.

Highlighting the worm, the Jefferies-Reuters CRB index, a global commodities benchmark, plunged 10 percent in July, its biggest monthly drop since 1980, when the U.S. was in a recession.

“There was a commodities bubble and it has burst,” said James Cordier, president of Tampa, Fla.-based trading firms Liberty Trading Group and OptionSellers.com.

The stark change in sentiment marks a stunning turnaround for the once-sizzling commodities sector, which solitary months ago seemed on a relentless march higher amongst a global scramble on this account that native resources and a weak dollar that made them cheaper to overseas buyers. No longer.

In a sign of just how abundant the euphoria has faded, investors who thronged futures markets earlier this year seeking succulent, double-digit returns now can’t sell gold, silver and cocoa futures fast enough. Gold, put on this account that example, is now selling despite $864 an ounce - down from a record of $1,038.60 any ounce upon March 17 - and lately has been falling $10 or more a day.

“Everybody is scrambling to get out of the ship before the stay next to them,” said Nathan Golz, a commodities researcher at Wachovia Securities in St. Louis. “It’s amazing how fast merchandise gain become the last invest people longing to be obliged their riches.”

Davide Accomazzo, managing director of trading at Los Angeles-based Cervino Capital Management, before-mentioned his unshaken doesn’t see good buying opportunities in produce “beneficial to at least the next three to nine months.”

“The conditions just aren’t right,” said Accomazzo, whose solid trades options on metals, natural gas and soft commodities.