Good afternoon and welcome to Markets Desk.
Meta shares moved higher Wednesday after reports surfaced that the company is exploring a cloud-computing venture, but Wall Street is split on what it means. Some analysts see a smart pivot, while others worry it signals weaker-than-expected adoption of Meta's own internal AI products — a distinction investors will be watching closely.
Turning to the agricultural complex, grain and oilseed markets posted broad gains on Wednesday. Soybeans led the move, with the front months up as much as nine and a half cents and the national cash price climbing over fifteen cents to ten dollars and eighty-five cents. Corn extended its post-USDA bounce, with front months up as much as eight and a quarter cents, supported in part by solid ethanol production data from the EIA.
And cotton futures rallied hard into the close, with front-month contracts gaining over one hundred points. The June acreage report showed all-cotton planted acres coming in at nine point eight five million, a figure traders are now digesting against a backdrop of a firmer dollar and crude oil slipping one dollar and forty-one cents to sixty-eight dollars and nine cents a barrel.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
