By JEREMY HERRON, AP Business Write

NEW YORK – Archer Daniels Midland Co. said Tuesday its fiscal first-quarter earnings more than doubled, beating Wall Street estimates as the company benefited from lower commodity prices and higher selling prices.
Its shares rose $3.41, or 16.2 percent, to $24.52 in afternoon trading.
The Decatur, Ill., based food processor and ethanol producer said profit in the quarter ended Sept. 30 rose to $1.05 billion, or $1.63 per share, up from $441 million, or 68 cents per share, last year.
The result beat the 69 cents per share expected by analysts in a Thomson Reuters poll.
Sales rose 65 percent to $21.16 billion, easily surpassing Wall Street's estimate of $15.98 billion. The gain came mostly from higher average selling prices, which ADM said arose from increases in underlying commodity costs.
Higher corn prices and energy costs sent ADM's corn-processing unit's operating profit lower by more than half. That was more than offset by the oilseeds-processing unit, where the company realized higher selling prices because it was one of the few suppliers of soy-bean crush when the U.S. harvest was delayed.

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Gasoline prices breach the $3 level for the first time since January.

For most of us, the price of gas has had an impact on our lives in many ways that may have lead to lifestyle changes. If this is the case and if you maintain these lifestyle changes you will get an immediate raise! Just three months ago, oil prices hit $147 per barrel, pushing the price of gas in some parts of the U.S. to more than $5 per galllon. Analysts estimate that every $1.00 decline in the price of oil saves U.S. consumers $1 billion dollars. The average oil price in the third quarter was $117; figure an average of about $80 for the current quarter, and that's about $40 billion in savings for the American consumer.

For me, this means and immediate savings of over $80 dollars per month and almost $1000 per year on just my daily office commute.


If you are interested in more information on gas prices you can read this story.