Gold, Silver Spike on Iran Strikes as Wheat Slumps: The Daily Board, Sept 3

Corn slipped with the rest of the grain complex, dragged down by wheat's broader sell-off rather than any corn-specific news.

Export demand and ethanol grind have both been steady, which is the main thing keeping the losses from being worse.

So what: a soft close keeps local basis (the gap between your cash bid and the futures price) roughly where it's been, so there's no urgency to chase the board lower.

Watch: next week's export sales data for any pickup in Asian buying.

Beans were the one green grain today, helped along by firm crush margins and steady Chinese buying interest.

South American harvest logistics are still the wildcard everyone's watching for the next leg.

So what: a firmer bean market with wheat weak is a reminder that this rally is bean-specific, not a blanket grain move.

Watch: Friday's CFTC Commitments of Traders report for how big the fund long has gotten.

Meal carried the crush (the margin a processor earns turning beans into meal and oil) today, up nearly 1.7% while oil fell.

Protein-feed demand out of the livestock sector stayed solid, and that's meal's bread and butter.

So what: if you're buying meal for the feedlot or barn, today's move says protein got a little more expensive relative to energy.

Watch: weekly export sales for meal, which have been running ahead of last year's pace.

Oil pulled the other way from meal, giving back a chunk of the week's gains as the biofuel/renewable-diesel bid cooled off.

That's despite crude holding up, so oil is trading more on its own vegetable-oil supply picture than on energy today.

So what: the meal/oil product split flipped in meal's favor, worth noting if you're pricing either leg separately.

Watch: palm oil production data out of Southeast Asia for the next read on global veg-oil supply.