Worries about a potentially toxic cocktail combining stubbornly high inflation with a flagging economy dragged U.S. stocks lower on Thursday.

• Summary
• Looking Ahead

Corn also stays moderately firm on Thursday, while soybeans retreat slightly lower.

• Commercial Red Meat Production Down 11 Percent From Last Year

For weeks, wheat drug its feet, but has picked up the pace recently because of the missile attack by Russia against a Ukrainian port facility, and dryness in the southern Plains which has led to a decline in crop conditions.

Soybeans have been supported recently from expectations that the USDA will eventually lower their estimate for Brazil’s crop at 155.0 million tons closer to Conab’s projection of 146.5 million.

Demand for U.S, corn has turned more robust recently as exports are exceptional even though the dollar is on the upswing.

USDA Undersecretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Alexis Taylor is optimistic about future trade opportunities with India.

The American dollar has gained ground on most of the world’s other currencies, a situation that hurts its ability to export crops, which in turn puts downward pressure on crop futures prices.

The gold market's recent record high above $2,400 an ounce could represent a peak in the price; however, investors shouldn't expect to see much downside from current levels as the World Bank sees an 8% gain in the precious metal this year.

The Arab oil embargo from 1973 is a painful memory for those who lived through it.

• Wheat
• Rice
• Corn and Oats

• Stock Index Futures
• Currency Futures
• Interest Rate Market Futures

• Cotton
• FCOJ
• Coffee

The US economy grew at a slower pace than expected in the first quarter.

• Gold & Silver
• Copper

• Top Headlines
• Futures & Weather
• Today

• Cotton - Coffee - Cocoa - Sugar

• Crude Oil
• Natural Gas

• Morning Ag Outlook

U.S. stocks traded sharply lower Thursday, with investors hit by a combination of slowing economic growth and disappointing second-quarter guidance from heavyweight tech giant Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META).

Soybean futures bounced around with no guiding story to keep the short covering action intact in my opinion.

Corn struggles for price direction, while Brazilian competition sinks soybean prices

With favorable crop condition ratings, wheat and sorghum production is projected to be higher than 2023 -- up 120 million bushels for wheat and 75 million bushels for sorghum. See why

The nation’s economy slowed sharply last quarter to a 1.6% annual pace in the face of high interest rates, but consumers — the main driver of economic growth — kept spending at a solid pace.

• Supplying The World

It was a fairly straightforward consolidative type of day yesterday where the major averages ended the day relatively unchanged accompanied by flat NYSE breadth.

To view charts, once Daily Action Report is open, click on the download button in the upper right corner of article framework. Open downloaded file, charts should now be visible.

• EUR/JPY Daily Outlook

• Resilience and Divergence

• For Week Ending 4/18/2024

• Enegies
• Metals
• Treasuries

In the week ending April 20, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 207,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 212,000.

In the US, today's focus will be on Q1 flash GDP data, where consensus expects growth to moderate to 2.4% Q/Q AR (Q4 3.4%).

Cash is expected to trade steady with last week around the $182 level.

Feeders also saw a huge move to the upside on Monday and also reached about a 50% retracement level measured from their February highs.

Soybeans have been able to recover to some degree this week, but the market stopped around a 50% retracement level and prices are beginning to shift back towards the downside.

Wheat prices have seen a fairly impressive rally this week supported mostly on ideas that the last winter cold snap may have created some crop damage even though most analysts seem to believe that any damage was minimal.

Corn has also seen a bump back to the upside this week, but prices stalled our around key resistance levels at the $4.53 level basis the July contract.

Cotton prices have seen enough volatility in just the last few weeks to more than makeup for the slow sixteen-month sideways action seen over the last year and a half.

Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 1.6 percent in the first quarter of 2024, according to the "advance" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the fourth quarter of 2023, real GDP increased 3.4 percent.