Commodities

Global stocks were mostly higher Thursday, but Tokyo's market slumped over a U.S. Fed statement overnight that reversed the recent trend for a strong dollar, while other markets were cheered by a surge on Wall Street that followed.

Asian stocks were mostly higher Thursday on upbeat corporate earnings and rising Chinese factory output after the chairwoman of the U.S. Federal Reserve said it will be patient about increasing interest rates.

Oil prices are sliding, ending a four-day rally, as the U.S. government reports that crude inventories surged last week.

The plunge in oil has crushed the Russian ruble, erased $80 billion from Exxon Mobil's market value and pushed Venezuela to the brink of economic collapse.

Asian stock markets started 2015 on a positive note Friday as investors waited for cues from new economic data and central bank meetings in coming weeks.

Farmers and ranchers across Kansas are wrapping a growing season marked by rapidly changing fortunes buffeted by weather and markets.

Shares were mixed in Asia on Friday with most markets in the region and across the globe closed for Christmas holidays.

Asian markets were mostly higher Monday after the Fed's pledge not to rush to raise interest rates prompted investors to add risky assets ahead of the year-end holiday.

Consumers will likely see a modest uptick in beef prices at the grocery store next year, though most of the significant increases have already happened, a cattle market analyst said Thursday.

A decision by OPEC not to cut oil production is hammering major energy companies in the U.S. and abroad.

Turkey production is at its lowest level in nearly three decades and wholesale prices are at an all-time high, but Thanksgiving cooks probably won't see much difference in the price they pay at the stores for their frozen birds.

A Purdue University agricultural economist says Thanksgiving food shoppers will find adequate supplies of turkeys but possibly at higher prices, depending on the type and whether grocers pass increases on to customers.

The Energy Department now predicts the average price of gasoline will be below $3 a gallon in 2015.

A virus that killed millions of baby pigs in the last year and led to higher pork prices has waned thanks to warmer weather and farmers' efforts to sterilize their operations.

Sitting under a tent at an annual agricultural equipment sales event, Shawn Berry noted that orders for the machinery he sells have dramatically slowed down this year — so much so that the Ohio-based company he represents could end up to 30 percent short in sales compared to last year in some states, South Dakota and Minnesota included.

Farmers will produce a record-breaking corn harvest this year, surpassing earlier expectations of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which has revised upward its estimate of this year's corn harvest to 14 billion bushels.

The price of oil slipped below $102 a barrel on Friday, falling for a second day after spiking on lower U.S. inventories and tensions in the Ukraine and the Middle East.

The price of oil rose more than a $1 for the third time in the last four trading days, and closed above $104 for the first time since July 3.

The price of oil continued to climb on Friday, reaching nearly $104 a barrel on concerns that the tensions over Ukraine and new sanctions against Russia could disrupt global supplies.

The price of oil rose 2 percent Thursday on lower U.S. inventories and concerns that geopolitical tensions could disrupt global supplies.