Back to the Futures: Corn climbs, Ukraine crisis has effect on gold, pork plummets

Corn climbs, finally!

After being hammered lower for nearly six months, corn prices finally staged a modest recovery this week, providing a much needed opportunity for farmers to sell some of this year's huge crop.

Though no threats to production (draughts, flooding, insects, or plant diseases) were revealed, higher demand supported the rally in corn. Strong export data, fueled by a weakening US dollar added a tone of optimism in an otherwise grim price picture. Wheat and soybean prices also stabilized but were not able to catch up to the gains in corn. As of midday Friday, corn for December delivery was trading near $3.78 per bushel.

Gold swings with Ukraine crisis

Major military conflicts in at least three hot spots in the world cooled down somewhat as the week progressed, triggering a selloff in gold. With other stories dominating the news, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, the rise of the terrorist group ISIS in Iraq, and the ongoing civil war in Ukraine had take the back seat. The selloff in gold occurred since the precious metal is seen as a safe haven during times of war, high inflation, and political instability. On Friday alone, the yellow metal dropped more than $20 per ounce, but reversed and recovered $10 on news that Ukrainian forces engage a Russian armoured column near the border. By midday Friday, gold for August delivery traded at $1,305 per troy ounce.

Pork plummets

Heavy hog weights and a decline in reports of a deadly pig disease caused a massive break down in hog prices this week, the decline has added to a collapse in the price of Hogs for over a month. While there's no guarantee that the wholesale price of Hogs on the futures market will translate directly into lower prices at the market (as other factors affect that price), there is a great deal of optimism that prices should decline at the super market in the coming weeks. Cattle prices also traded below last week's prices further easing the cost of meat at the grocery. October hogs traded at 95 cents per pound at noon Friday.

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