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A surge by oil futures following a report the Pentagon will send a third aircraft-carrier strike group and additional Marine Corps ships to the Middle East, adding 9,000 to 10,000 more troops to the region, gave a lift to corn and wheat futures near the end of a choppy trading session, as President Donald Trump considers renewing strikes on Iran after the midterm elections.
The ships, jet fighters, Marines and sailors will arrive in the region by the end of November, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing officials. It also reported that Trump recently told aides that he expects to resume bombing Iran that same month. The Journal noted that the deployments come just days after Trump rejected Iran’s latest proposal for a seven-day ceasefire, and in a Time magazine interview that published on Thursday said he could resume striking Iran after the midterms if there is no deal in place.
- December Brent crude futures jumped 4.4% to settle at $102.31 a barrel on Thursday, while West Texas Intermediate futures rose 2.7% to $92.87 a barrel.
Market recap: Traders appeared to build a risk premium back into grain markets as oil futures extended gains, allowing December corn to finish above the psychologically important $5 mark after slipping to a five-week low at $4.95 early in the session.
- December corn finished 1 ¼ cents higher at $5.02 1/4
- November soybeans fell 9 cents to end at $12.84, off the session low.
- December soybean meal dropped $3.60 to $353.30
- December soybean oil fell 90 points to 67.38 cents
- December SRW rose 7 cents to end at $6.82 3/4
- December HRW gained 4 ½ cents to close at $7.37 1/2
- Spring wheat futures rose 3.5 cents to $6.9675.
- December cotton futures fell 76 points to 77.76 cents.
- December live cattle rose $0.475 to $223.175, near the daily high and closed at a two-week high close. November feeder cattle gained $2.05 to $336.35, near the session high and hit a nine-week high.
- December lean hog futures fell $0.50 to $68.925, nearer the daily high and hit a contract low today.
EU diesel release: Jarrett Renshaw of Reuters reported that European Union trade chief Maros Sefcovic said on Thursday that he discussed tight diesel supplies and price spikes with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and expressed Europe’s desire for a coordinated approach to lowering prices. Earlier, Reuters reported the Trump administration told Germany and France to draw down emergency diesel inventories to help to ease global fuel prices or face a potential US diesel export ban. The U.S. wants the European Union to release 120 million barrels of diesel, according to one source, the report said. The warning escalates pressure on Europe as President Donald Trump weighs a potential diesel export ban to bring down surging U.S. fuel prices ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Record soybean open interest: CME Group on Thursday said soybean futures hit a monthly open interest record of 1,118,872 contracts in September, taking out the previous record of 1,063,108 contracts traded in April 2026. Open interest is the total number of active contracts that haven’t yet been closed or expired.
- “We’re seeing record participation in soybean futures because the market is facing a unique combination of forces all at once: trade talks are fueling demand, buyers are hedging the incoming U.S. harvest amid rain delays, and Brazil’s planting season is starting just as Super El Niño threatens yields,” said John Ricci, global head of agricultural products at CME Group, in a news release. “These events draw participants and have pushed trading activity to new highs.”
CME Group said its agriculture business had a record first half of 2026, with average daily volume reaching 2 million contracts and open interest climbing to 10.7 million contracts.
USDA sued over solar funding curbs: A coalition of farmers, a solar company, grant consultants and agricultural and energy groups is suing USDA, Agri-Pulse reports, alleging the agency illegally sought to limit solar projects’ eligibility for grants and loan guarantees through changes to its Rural Energy for America program (REAP), then refused to pay grants to farmers who had started building solar arrays with its encouragement. According to the report, the lawsuit argues eligibility restrictions targeting solar projects that USDA added to REAP exceed the agency’s authority and conflict with the program’s congressionally mandated purpose of promoting renewable energy. It also challenges the agency’s decision to require pending grant applicants to reapply under rules that have not yet been issued.
- Separately, USDA on Sept. 30 published a final rule that fundamentally changes the structure and administration of REAP, Ethanol Producer reported. The changes will now require projects to be fully built and operational before an application can even be filed, the report said. REAP provides guaranteed loan financing and grant funding to agricultural producers and rural small businesses for renewable energy systems or to make energy efficiency improvements. Renewable biomass, including anaerobic digesters and biogas, wind, solar, small hydro-electric, ocean, geothermal, or hydrogen derived from any of those sources are among the renewable energy sources eligible for the program, the report noted.
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