EXCERPTS:
"Japan's earthquake and tsunami roiled commodities from oil to hogs to lumber.
Crude futures tumbled as the market assessed the damage. Fires broke out at two Japanese refineries while others closed down automatically when the earthquake hit. The shutdown refineries had a combined oil-processing capacity of 1.2 million barrels a day, roughly a quarter of Japan's total refining capacity.
Light, sweet crude for April delivery fell as low as $99.01 a barrel early in the session before recovering to settle down $1.54, or 1.5%, at $101.16 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude on the ICE futures fell $1.59, or 1.4%, to settle at $113.84 a barrel.
Corn and lean hog futures saw some of the sharpest declines on fears the disaster would slow demand from a key buyer. Further selling came from traders looking to just exit commodities markets because of the overall uncertainty that follows a natural disaster.
