Recap for December 28

  • Wheat futures advanced on Thursday after a second incident this week in the Black Sea raised concerns about safe exports of grain from Ukraine. The incident involved a Panama flagged vessel heading to load grain at a River Danube port hitting a Russian mine. Corn and soy complex futures were lower on beneficial rains in Brazil. March corn futures were down 2¼¢ to close at $4.74¼ per bu. Chicago March wheat added 8½¢ to close at $6.31½ per bu. Kansas City March wheat gained 8¾¢ to close at $6.43¾ per bu. Minneapolis March wheat rose 3¾¢ to close at $7.25½ per bu. March soybeans dropped 8½¢ to close at $13.12 per bu. March soybean meal was down $3.10 to close at $390.70 per ton. March soybean oil lost 0.68¢ to close at 47.98¢ a lb.
  • US equity indexes closed mixed on Thursday. The S&P 500 continued to inch closer to an all-time high, and all three indexes were on track to conclude a ninth consecutive week of gains. The jobless claims report issued earlier today provided further proof that the economy was effectively cooling, indicating 218,000 layoffs occurred last week, which was slightly higher than economists were expecting but not enough to quell the bubble of optimism that’s been fueling the recent surge in stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 53.58 points, or 0.14%, to close at 37,710.10. The Standard & Poor’s 500 was up 1.77 points, or 0.04%, to close at 4,783.35. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 4.04 points lower, or 0.03%, to close at 15,095.14.
  • US crude oil prices were lower Thursday. The February sweet crude future was down 2.34¢ at $71.77 per barrel. 
  • The US dollar index advanced