Good evening and welcome to Markets Desk.
Crude oil closed higher Wednesday as geopolitical tension drove prices upward, with August WTI gaining a third of a percent and RBOB gasoline surging to a seven-week high, up more than two percent. The catalyst was clear — U.S. airstrikes against Iran tightened the market's outlook on global supply, and traders responded accordingly.
Turning from the energy pit to the protein complex, lean hog futures rallied broadly on Wednesday, with most contracts gaining between one dollar five and two dollars thirty-five. The USDA's national base hog price came in at one hundred dollars and sixty-six cents, up two dollars ten from Tuesday, signaling genuine cash market strength behind the futures move.
And in a case with significant national security undertones, a former Federal Reserve advisor has been sentenced to more than three years in federal prison for lying about his ties to Chinese intelligence. Prosecutors called it one of the most prominent cases of alleged Chinese targeting of U.S. financial institutions, and it lands as the Trump administration escalates its focus on foreign economic espionage.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
