Thursday, August 20, 2026
Crude popped on its contract roll and the Hormuz standoff; silver rode a second straight big session higher.
Grains got their own lift from Russian export disruption headlines and heavy China soybean buying, with only oats and natural gas sitting out the rally.
The Board
Grains & Oilseeds
🌽 Corn · Dec: 503'4 · +5'4 · +1.10% 🟢⬆️
🫘 Beans · Nov: 1236'4 · −0'6 · −0.06% 🔴⬇️
🥩 Meal · Dec: 323.80 · −1.80 · −0.55% 🔴⬇️
🫙 Oil · Dec: 71.32 · +1.36 · +1.94% 🟢⬆️
🌾 SRW · Dec: 700'0 · +2'4 · +0.36% 🟢⬆️
🌾 HRW · Dec: 776'4 · −0'2 · −0.03% 🔴⬇️
🌾 HRS · Dec: 727.75 · +7.50 · +1.04% 🟢⬆️
🌾 Oats · Dec: 342'4 · −7'0 · −2.00% 🔴⬇️
Prairie Crops
🌻 Canola · Nov: C$820.40 · +0.50 · +0.06% 🟢⬆️
🐮 Barley · cash: C$278 · n/a ➖†
Energy
🛢️ WTI · Oct: 86.83 · +2.44 · +2.89% 🟢⬆️
🔥 NatGas · Sep: 2.733 · −0.081 · −2.88% 🔴⬇️
Metals
🥇 Gold · Dec: 4,571.40 · +26.10 · +0.57% 🟢⬆️
🥈 Silver · Sep: 68.105 · +2.280 · +3.46% 🟢⬆️
The Read
🌽 Corn: 503'4, +5'4 (+1.10%) 🟢⬆️ $CORN ( ▲ 0.96% )
Corn firmed with the broader complex, helped by a genuinely strong export tape: nearly 69.6 million bushels sold, led by Mexico, Japan, and Spain.
Brazil's second-crop harvest is 85% in the bin, which usually caps U.S. corn, but demand strength won today instead.
So what: steady export demand keeps a floor under fall bushels heading into harvest pricing decisions.
Watch: Thursday's weekly export sales data and Midwest harvest weather.
🫘 Soybeans: 1236'4, −0'6 (−0.06%) 🔴⬇️ $SOYB ( ▲ 0.27% )
Beans were essentially flat, but the story underneath is loud: China took roughly 53 of the 65 million bushels in this week's new-crop sales, still the whole ballgame for this market.
Funds are near contract highs already, which is capping the day-to-day pop even as the demand headlines stay bullish.
So what: basis (the gap between your local cash bid and the futures price) holders are watching a market that's already priced a lot of good news.
Watch: the pace of Chinese buying against the 25-million-tonne full-year target, and any weather surprise into finish.
🥩 Soybean Meal: 323.80, −1.80 (−0.55%) 🔴⬇️
Meal slipped while oil did the heavy lifting in today's crush (the margin a processor earns turning beans into meal and oil) split, oil's carrying the margin today.
Protein-feed demand still looks steady on paper, just not enough to buck the product-split rotation.
So what: feedlot and hog ration costs hold close to flat.
Watch: whether meal reclaims some of the crush split tomorrow, and any fresh China feed-demand headlines.
🫙 Soybean Oil: 71.32, +1.36 (+1.94%) 🟢⬆️
Oil tracked crude's roll-day pop, staying on its usual short leash to energy.
Biofuel demand expectations are steady; today's move reads more like energy sympathy than a policy shift.
So what: biodiesel feedstock costs tick higher alongside the broader energy complex.
Watch: whether oil keeps riding crude's move, and any fresh biofuel-policy headlines.