Corn fell from a seven-week high on concern that lower spending by U.S. consumers and companies will reduce grain demand. Soybeans and wheat also declined. Service industries expanded in July at the slowest pace since February 2010, the Institute for Supply Management said today. Pacific Investment Management Co. and BlackRock Inc., which oversee a combined $5 trillion, said the U.S. economy is stalling. Corn has rallied 76 percent in the past year on expectations of increased demand for ethanol and animal feed. “More economists are talking about a slowdown, and that may have a negative impact on demand,” Jim Gerlach, the president of A/C Trading Inc. in Fowler, Indiana, said in a telephone interview. “Investor worries about a return of their capital, rather than a return on their capital, is at the forefront, with ‘risk-off’ trading dominating markets.” Corn futures for December delivery fell 2.75 cents, or 0.4 percent, to close at $7.13 a bushel at 1:15 p.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade. Earlier, the price touched $7.185, the highest for a most-active contract since June 9. Soybean futures for November delivery declined 6.75 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $13.73 a bushel on the CBOT, the first drop in three sessions. The oilseed has climbed 35 percent in the past year. Some soybean fields from Colorado to Iowa may get as much as 4 inches (10 centimeters) of rain in the next three days with more precipitation and cooler temperatures developing after Aug. 8, Dave Tolleris, the president of WXRisk.com in Richmond, Virginia, said in a report. “Soybeans will benefit from the cooler, wetter weather, but the damage to corn from hot, dry weather last month is irreversible,” A/C Trading’s Gerlach said. Wheat futures for December delivery fell 8.75 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $7.50 a bushel in Chicago. The most-active contract has gained 10 percent in the past 12 months. Corn is the biggest U.S. crop, valued at $66.7 billion in 2010, followed by soybeans at $38.9 billion, government figures show. Wheat is the fourth-largest, behind hay, at $13 billion. To contact the reporters on this story: Jeff Wilson in Chicago at jwilson29@bloomberg.net Brian Chappatta in Chicago at bchappatta@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at sstroth@bloomberg.net

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