Good afternoon and welcome to Markets Desk.
Social Security's clock just got shorter. The two thousand twenty six Trustees Report now projects the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance trust fund will exhaust its reserves by the fourth quarter of two thousand thirty two — three months sooner than previously estimated. Without congressional action, beneficiaries could face automatic payment cuts of roughly seventeen percent, affecting millions of retirees who have built retirement plans around those checks.
Shifting to commodities, soybeans are in a holding pattern ahead of the upcoming USDA report, with futures trading fractionally mixed after Monday's session saw contracts shed one to nearly seven cents across the board. Open interest climbed by more than seven thousand contracts, signaling traders are positioning rather than committing. Cash bean prices also slipped by over five cents nationally, keeping the complex under quiet but steady pressure.
On the analyst tape, Chimera Investment Corporation's preferred shares are drawing fresh attention after the average one-year price target was revised sharply higher to thirty four dollars and ninety six cents per share — a jump of nearly sixteen percent from the prior estimate issued last November. That kind of consensus revision on preferred stock reflects a meaningful reassessment of yield stability and credit comfort in the mortgage REIT space.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
