(Food Business News) – Trade woes hurt soy complex, wheat down despite weather
Recap for May 4
- Signs that trade tumult between the United States and China will continue pressured the soy complex Friday. After five sessions of gains on weather worries, wheat futures also fell. A forecast for clear skies allowing corn planting to proceed knocked corn futures prices back slightly. May soybeans lost 16c to close at $10.27¼ a bu. May soybean meal dropped $4 to close at $394.40 a ton. May soybean oil dipped 0.02c to 30.56c a lb. Chicago May wheat fell 13c to close at $5.27½ a bu. Kansas City May wheat fell 11¾c to $5.35¾ a bu. MinneapolisMay wheat fell 1½c to close at $6.29¾ a bu. May corn declined ¾c to $3.98¾ a bu.
- U.S. equity markets rebounded Friday as investors’ relative optimism allowed major indexes to end the week on a high note. However, the D.J.I.A. and S&P 500 were both lower for a second consecutive week. Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 332.36 points to 24,262.51. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 33.69 points to close at 2,663.42. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 121.47 points to close at 7,209.62.
- Declining OPEC production and ideas that fresh sanctions on Iran could further stifle oil output supported crude oil futures Friday. June light, sweet crude oil advanced $1.29 to close at $69.72 a barrel.
- En route to a third straight week of gains, the U.S. dollar closed higher in the wake of an April jobs report showing employers added fewer jobs than expected last month while the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level since 2000.
- Gold futures were slightly higher at closing Friday after swinging between small gains and losses after April’s mixed jobs report. June gold rose $2 to $1,314.70 an oz.
