Welcome to Markets Desk, here's what's moving the needle this Monday.
Soybeans surged to start the week, with most contracts gaining between nine and nearly twenty cents, pushing the national cash price to eleven dollars and fifty-four cents. Soymeal and soy oil followed higher, signaling renewed demand-side momentum in the agricultural complex after weeks of sideways trading.
Shifting from the fields to the front lines, Ukraine struck a luxury residential tower roughly four miles from the Kremlin, marking one of the deepest drone incursions into Moscow on record. The timing is deliberate — Russia is days away from its Victory Day parade, and Kyiv has a documented history of using these strikes to undermine the symbolism Moscow depends on.
On the diplomatic front, Germany's Friedrich Merz appears to have undone a year of careful groundwork with Washington in a single public swipe at President Trump. That kind of miscalculation carries real weight in European markets, where German-American relations anchor trade and defense spending expectations. Investors watching the euro and German bunds will want to monitor how Berlin manages the fallout.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
