Welcome to Markets Desk, your midday read on what's moving markets and policy.
In the ag pits, soybeans had a strong close to the week, with most contracts gaining fourteen to thirty cents on the session and September finishing up over fifty cents on the week. The national cash bean price pushed above twelve fifty, with soymeal and soybean oil both contributing to broad product strength across the complex.
Shifting to soft commodities, arabica coffee futures climbed over one percent Friday as ICE arabica inventories fell to their lowest level in twenty-seven years. That supply tightness is doing real work on the price floor, even as robusta moved in the opposite direction, closing down nearly three quarters of a percent and leaving the coffee market in a split settlement.
And in energy and geopolitics, President Trump announced Friday that the United States has entered an agreement with Venezuela to take control of sixty-five billion barrels of that country's oil reserves. The deal, negotiated by Secretaries Rubio and Hegseth, comes as domestic gas prices remain elevated and crude stockpiles continue to shrink, adding a significant geopolitical dimension to an already tight supply picture.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
