The latest Market Talks covering Commodities. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires throughout the day.
1142 ET--U.S. commercial crude oil stocks rose by 17.4 million barrels last week, the EIA reports, against market expectations of a small decline. Imports rose by 1.1 million barrels a day and exports were down by 627,000 b/d. "Today's numbers are very noisy because of tankers unloading in the U.S., but they don't alter the challenging fundamental picture," David Russell of TradeStation says in a note. "Markets will likely look past this report and keep focusing on headlines out of the Middle East." WTI and Brent are virtually unchanged at $83.20 and $88.92 a barrel, respectively. (anthony.harrup@wsj.com)
1139 ET - Trading earlier this summer that sent bitcoin below the $60k mark is being looked at as a potentially consequential event, says Bret Kenwell of eToro. In early June, bitcoin saw trading volumes spike to nearly $150 billion in a day, according to data from CoinGlass. Since then, trading volume has gradually trended lower, this as bitcoin stabilized around $62k to $65k. "June's volume spike was three to four times the 20-day moving average," explains Kenwell. "Combined with support emerging near $60,000, bulls hope that burst may have served as a miniature capitulation event - another step in bitcoin's long but necessary bottoming process." Kenwell cautions that bitcoin may not be in for "an immediate turnaround," but says that "a sustained move higher should bring trading volumes back with it." (kirk.maltais@wsj.com
1112 ET - Chili's is increasing its lead in casual dining, Brinker International CEO Kevin Hochman says on a call with analysts Wednesday. He credits the continued progress to the chain's ongoing turnaround efforts, which focus on long-term sustainable growth, improvements to food, service and atmosphere, and position the brand to be more relevant. "These experience improvements, coupled with our everyday value leadership--represented by a per-person average spend that is $3 to $4 below competition--are supporting a powerful flywheel of traffic and sales growth, margin expansion, and then reinvestment into our business," Hochman says. "We still have room to improve, but our progress gives us confidence that we will sustain traffic gains and repeat business." Shares are up 5.3%. (connor.hart@wsj.com)
1109 ET--Brinker International pulled off a successful turnaround of its Chili's chain, but results are more mixed across its Maggiano's Little Italy chain, where same-restaurant sales slipped 2.5% during the recent quarter. CEO Kevin Hochman says on a call with analysts Wednesday that the chain is seeing some green shoots, noting improvements across certain financial metrics and guest satisfaction scores. Overall, though, "the turnaround at Maggiano's has been mixed," he says. "We've made progress on operational and culinary improvements, but some of that progress has been offset by losses with our core guests from our prior strategy." While the turnaround is happening slower than expected, Hochman says the company has the right strategy in place to drive results in coming quarters. (connor.hart@wsj.com)
1048 ET - In the aftermath of the Ukrainian strike on the key Russian port in Novorossiysk, Russian wheat exports could sink to their lowest in nearly a decade, says Black Sea agricultural research firm SovEcon. The firm says the extent of the decline in shipments depends on how extensive the damage to the port is, and how long it takes for Russia to repair it. "If operations resume within days, the impact on exports will likely be limited," says Andrey Sizov of SovEcon. "If they do not, we could revise our August wheat export estimate down by 0.5-0.7 million metric tons." CBOT wheat is up 3.5% to over $6.50 a bushel, while corn rises 1.7% and soybeans are up 0.5%. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)
1005 ET - CME live cattle futures are down 1%, with volumes seen as light, says ADM Investor Services in a note. The firm says market watchers are debating over whether the upcoming Labor Day holiday will spur stronger beef demand from U.S. consumers, or if Mexican feeder cattle allowed to enter the country thanks to the USDA's gradual border reopening will weigh on the market. Most-active lean hog futures are up 0.3%. The USDA will release updated meat supply and demand figures in its WASDE report slated for noon eastern time. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)
1001 ET - Gold futures are higher, and may move up more on the back of a tame July inflation reading. The CPI came in at 3.4%, reducing investor expectations on the likelihood of a rate hike in September. "We anticipate prices rising above the $4,500 [per troy ounce] level, enhancing the prospects for a stronger rally, with gold potentially reaching new record highs by year-end," says Peter Cardillo of Spartan Capital Securities in a note. Gold rises 0.8% to $4,478/oz. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)
0944 ET - U.S. natural gas futures rise as overnight forecasts add heat to the weather outlook for a likely increase in power-sector demand. "National demand will be high to very high the next 10 days as an impressively strong ridge of high pressure sets up across much of the southern 2/3 of the U.S., focused from Texas to the Southeast and where highs of 90s and 100s will be widespread," NatGasWeather.com says in a note. The weather pattern suggests near to smaller-than-usual inventory builds that could reduce the storage surplus to 160 Bcf-170 Bcf from the current 195 Bcf, the forecaster adds. Nymex natural gas is up 1.5% at $2.809/mmBtu. (anthony.harrup@wsj.com)
0926 ET - Oil futures are lower in early U.S. trading with little movement seen toward an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The IEA says it now expects global oil demand to fall by 1.6 million barrels a day this year, more than the 1 million b/d drop it previously expected. With supply seen falling by 4.3 million b/d, it still implies further global inventory draws as this year proceeds, Ritterbusch & Associates says in a note. Given uncertainty over the Iran war and the Strait of Hormuz, the forecasts "don't carry the weight that they would under normal market conditions," the firm adds. WTI is off 0.5% at $82.78 a barrel and Brent is down 0.6% at $88.36. (anthony.harrup@wsj.com)
0923 ET - The USDA has confirmed another flash sale of soybeans to China, this time for 244,000 metric tons for delivery in the 2026/27 marketing year. This comes on the heels of a sale of 136,000 tons confirmed by the agency yesterday, adding support to hopes of Chinese demand consuming what's expected to be a big U.S. soybean crop. The USDA will release its latest updates on the expected output of U.S. soybeans for this year in its WASDE report slated for noon eastern time. CBOT soybean futures are up 0.3% premarket, while corn rises 0.6% and wheat is up 2.4%. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)
0911 ET - The latest in the back-and-forth offensives between Russia and Ukraine is lifting CBOT wheat futures, with the most-active contract up 2.4% premarket. "Wheat futures are rallying following two grain terminals at Russia's Novorossiysk port that handle roughly 15 mmt of grain exports per year were hit by Ukrainian drones overnight," says AgMarket.net in a note. The Novorossiysk port is Russia's largest for grain exports, and analysts say that while the extent of the damage to the port is unknown, Russia is expected to struggle to ship its typical volumes of wheat and other grains. Most-active corn is up 0.6%, and soybeans rise 0.3%. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)
0649 ET - Palm oil ended lower following overnight losses in soybean oil. Meanwhile, the expectations of Malaysia's abundant tropical oil supply also pushed the price lower, Kenanga Futures says in a research note. However, anticipations of stronger exports to India and higher crude oil prices amid U.S.-Middle East tensions may cap losses, the brokerage added. Kenanga sets the support and resistance levels for the October futures contract at 4,685 ringgit and 4,790 ringgit, respectively. The Bursa Malaysia Derivatives contract for October delivery ended 51 ringgit lower at 4,697 ringgit a ton.
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