Welcome to Markets Desk, your end-of-week wrap on the commodities complex.
Cotton futures clawed back some ground into the close on Friday, with contracts finishing steady to one hundred twelve points higher across the board. It wasn't enough to erase the week's damage though — December cotton still ended down three hundred eighty three points on the week, pressured by a softer crude oil market, which shed one dollar and sixty one cents per barrel on the session, and a weaker dollar index, off about twenty cents.
Turning to the grain pits, wheat trade was split heading into the weekend. Chicago soft red winter contracts managed to settle steady to as much as three cents higher, with the deferred months leading the way. Kansas City hard red winter was the laggard, finishing the session on the softer side, and December Chicago remains down twenty and a quarter cents on the week — a rough stretch for the wheat bulls.
Soybeans rounded out the week with quiet but persistent selling pressure, posting losses of two and a quarter to six and a quarter cents across the board on Friday. November beans finished the week down more than forty cents, and the national average cash bean price slipped another six cents to twelve dollars and twenty three cents. Soymeal led the front-month weakness, adding to the bearish tone.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
