The latest Market Talks covering Commodities. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires throughout the day.
1137 ET - Low expectations for the winter wheat production are giving futures support, ahead of as Thursday's WASDE report. The most-active contract is up 0.8% in morning trade, with traders speculating over how much the USDA changes its projections for U.S. wheat. Short-covering is being seen ahead of the report, says Charlie Sernatinger of Marex in a note. "Up on more short covering and talk that the Thursday wheat production report will show lower production because of the crop ratings," says Sernatinger. This week's Crop Progress report cut winter wheat in good-or-excellent condition by one point to 25%. Most-active wheat rises 0.7%, while soybeans fall 0.3% and corn is up 0.4%. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)
1128 ET - Gold prices extend losses, with New York futures down 1.1% at $4,314.70 a troy ounce in afternoon trading. Energy-driven inflation fears, stronger-than-expected U.S. labor data, and expectations of higher-for-longer interest rates have kept bullion under pressure despite solid long-term fundamentals. "Should the U.S. inflation data for May also surprise on the upside on Wednesday, the gold price is likely to fall further," analysts at Commerzbank say. "As long as expectations of interest rate hikes prevail, gold is likely to remain on the back foot." (giulia.petroni@wsj.com)
1125 ET - Energy Secretary Chris Wright says the U.S.'s emergency releases of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, along with those of other countries, are among reasons oil price increases have been relatively contained despite disruptions in the Middle East. The Department of Energy had released about 66 million barrels of the planned 172 million barrels as of June 5. The releases address interruptions of crude flows and aren't aimed at managing prices, Wright says at an Atlantic Council event. "And by the way, we've not sold a single barrel. We swap barrels. We deliver oil today in exchange for more barrels later than we're swapping." The transactions have added 35 million barrels to the SPR, which will have more oil at the end than there was going into the crisis, he adds.(anthony.harrup@wsj.com)
1122 ET - Good weather in U.S. crop-growing areas is a pressure point for grain prices, amid outlooks for very large harvests coming this fall. But the demand picture for corn is also quite strong, says Daniel Flynn of Price Futures Group in a note. "Selling in corn is paused as charts become deeply oversold," says Flynn. But demand for corn remains supportive for prices, a case bolstered by the USDA's flash sales notice for 120,000 metric tons of U.S. corn being sold to unknown destinations for delivery in the 2025/26 marketing year. Most-active CBOT corn rises 0.6%, while soybeans fall 0.1% and wheat climbs 0.9%. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)
1117 ET - Global oil supply normalization is now expected to extend into January 2027 under Rystad Energy's base-case scenario, despite assumptions of a framework U.S.-Iran agreement in June that would enable a phased reopening of the Strait of Hormuz from mid-July. "Tanker repositioning is the first bottleneck," says Rystad Energy's Aditya Saraswat. As a result, upstream production is projected to lag the Strait's reopening by two to three weeks, allowing only 10%-15% of volumes to return in July. A stronger recovery is forecast for August and September, lifting regional supply to about 17.3 million barrels a day and 20.9 million barrels a day, respectively. Roughly 85% of lost output should be restored by October, while full normalization is delayed by slower recoveries at mature Iraqi and Kuwaiti fields. "Cumulative supply losses are on track to reach nearly 2 billion barrels by year-end, even under this relatively constructive scenario," Saraswat says. (giulia.petroni@wsj.com)
1052 ET - U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright says oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz are rising, but declines to offer details on how much is getting through. "I would say rising very meaningfully," he says at an Atlantic Council event. Oil futures are sharply lower after President Trump said a deal to end the conflict could come in two or three days. On Monday Trump said the U.S. blockade would remain until a deal is signed. Wright says a return to normal will take "many months" once the strait is reopened. The conflict with Iran has been "more of a struggle than we would like, but that solution will end with an Iran without nuclear weapons and with free flow of energy."(anthony.harrup@wsj.com)
0949 ET - U.S. natural gas futures are modestly lower as a cooler weather outlook for the second half of June crimps demand expectations. "Futures are trying to hold the seasonal bullish structure against weather models that have been cooling," Dennis Kissler of BOK Financial says in a note. LNG demand is expected to rise as maintenance ends, but "weather will need to move back to warmer-than-normal forecasts to lift prices significantly." Nymex natural gas is off 0.4% at $3.133/mmBtu.(anthony.harrup@wsj.com)
0941 ET - Oil futures give back yesterday's gains as Israel and Iran halt fire and President Trump says an agreement to end the Middle East conflict could be signed in two or three days. "The situation remains highly uncertain and we have seen many false dawns before," says Nikos Tzabouras of Tradu. "One diplomatic setback could reignite the risk premium and send prices sharply higher." Even if the Strait of Hormuz is reopened it will take months to restore flows to normal levels, he adds. WTI is down 2.6% at $88.89 a barrel and Brent is off 2.2% at $92.21. (anthony.harrup@wsj.com)
0927 ET - This week's WASDE report from the USDA isn't expected to show much in the way of changes to the USDA's current output and stockpile projections for corn, soybeans, and wheat. According to analysts surveyed by WSJ, the figures expected from Thursday's report shouldn't be too far off from what they reported last month, at least domestically. World stockpiles of corn and soybeans are expected to be higher than they were in the May report, and upticks are expected to the corn and soybean production of both Brazil and Argentina. Most-active CBOT corn is up 0.7%, while soybeans are flat and wheat rises 1.2%. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)
0917 ET - Semiconductors, miners and banks are the sectors that will outperform among European equities, Morgan Stanley analysts write. The number of attractive semiconductor stocks is increasing, with the Dutch AEX's heavy weighting toward the sector making the country attractive, they say. Miners benefit from idiosyncratic forces driving metals higher, as well as the sector's link to the build-out of AI. The analysts flag copper miner KGHM and silver miner Fresnillo, among others. Banks will outperform as a result of higher yields on deposits and as efficiency savings resulting from AI uptake increase, they say. Siemens, ASML and Dutch bank ABN Amro are the analysts' top stock picks on the continent.(josephmichael.stonor@wsj.com)
0849 ET - The USDA's latest Crop Progress report showed stability in the condition of spring crops--with 67% of U.S. corn in good-or-excellent condition, along with 65% of soybeans. For corn, the rating is the same as last week, while for soybeans it's down one point. That lower ratings came from states that received a deluge of rain this spring, with Ohio and Indiana among the five-lowest rated states--but Iowa and Minnesota balanced things out by being among the highest-rated states. A favorable weather outlook is ahead this week, says Michael Cordonnier of Soybean & Corn Advisor in a note, with rainfall and higher temperatures expected in most areas. Corn is up 0.7% and soybeans fall 0.2%. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)
0843 ET - The amount of winter wheat crops in good-or-excellent condition sank by one point in the latest Crop Progress report from the USDA, falling to 25% good-or-excellent. That's now 29 points below the rating at the same time last year, adding fuel to the fire for a crimp in U.S. wheat supply. It's the worst rating the U.S. winter wheat crop has ever had for this time of year, says AgMarket.net in a note. However, the firm says the spring wheat crop is looking considerably better--with 52% good-or-excellent, up 5 points from the prior week. CBOT wheat is up 0.9%, while corn climbs 0.6% and soybeans fall 0.3%. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 09, 2026 12:15 ET (16:15 GMT)
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