Wheat futures close lower on concerns about trade war, oversupply
Wheat prices fell on Wednesday on the Chicago Exchange amid mounting concerns about the impact of the trade war, and potential market oversupply.
It comes amid signals that Russia and Ukraine are approaching a peace deal that would end the three-year war, which would boost grain supplies as both countries are major wheat exporters.
Trump surprised the markets with plans to enforce the tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports next month, shrugging off recent negotiations.
Trump also ordered the trade ministry to investigate US copper imports and whether there was a need to impose tariffs on the industrial metal to protect national security.
The Norwegian government warned that Trump’s plans to impose 25% tariffs on European imports would lead to a dangerous trade war.
Corn
Corn May futures fell 0.1% to $4.93 a bushel.
Soybeans
Soybean May futures fell 0.7% to $10.41 a bushel.
Wheat
Wheat May futures dropped 1.5% to $5.79 a bushel.
Ethereum tumbles over 8% as traders shun risky assets
Most cryptocurrencies fell on Wednesday as investors shun riskier assets such as stocks, bitcoin, and other crypto assets on concerns about the trade war.
Trump surprised the markets with plans to enforce the tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports next month, shrugging off recent negotiations.
Trump also ordered the trade ministry to investigate US copper imports and whether there was a need to impose tariffs on the industrial metal to protect national security.
The Norwegian government warned that Trump’s plans to impose 25% tariffs on European imports would lead to a dangerous trade war.
Now traders await important US personal spending data on Friday to measure inflation.
Otherwise, the crypto platform Bybit was subject to a hack that took nearly $1.5 billion out of the platform.
The company’s CEO confirmed on X that the ethereum wallet was hacked after the ZachXBT website noticed a suspicious $1.5 billion transfer of ethereum to a foreign wallet.
Ethereum
On trading, ethereum tumbled 8.5% on Coinmarketcap as of 20:22 GMT to $2273.1.
US crude stocks fall unexpectedly after four weeks of buildups
The Energy Information Administration reported a drawdown of 2.3 million barrels in US crude stocks to 430.2 million barrels, while analysts expected a build of 1.7 million barrels.
Gasoline stocks rose 0.4 million barrels to 248.3 million barrels, while distillate stocks rose 3.9 million barrels to 120.5 million barrels.
Wall Street underpinned by tech sector
US stock indices rose on Wednesday as the tech sector rebounded following multiple sessions of losses ahead of Nvidia’s results.
Trump surprised the markets with plans to enforce the tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports next month, shrugging off recent negotiations.
Trump also ordered the trade ministry to investigate US copper imports and whether there was a need to impose tariffs on the industrial metal to protect national security.
Now markets await Nvidia’s earnings results to gauge the spending and outlook of AI investments.
On trading, Dow Jones rose 0.2% as of 16:58 GMT to 43,696 points, while S&P 500 added 0.7%, or 40 points to 5995 points, as NASDAQ rallied 1.1%, or 216 points to 19,240 points.