The latest Market Talks covering Commodities. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires throughout the day.

1548 ET - Live cattle futures settle up 1.6% to $2.3875 a pound, the second day out of the past three that cattle futures settled higher, according to FactSet. Zooming out, today makes it 8 out of the past 10 trading sessions that cattle has logged a positive close. The streak comes as the labor strike at the JBS plant in Greeley, Colo. looks to continue into a third week. Lean hog futures settle down 0.1% to 90.75 cents a pound. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)

1516 ET - Oil futures rise on typical pre-weekend caution amid concerns about the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz and doubts about a swift negotiated end to the conflict. "War anxiety is elevated ahead of the weekend," says Arlan Suderman of StoneX in a note. Despite President Trump's extending the deadline for attacks on the Iranian energy sector to give more time for talks, crude markets added risk premium overnight "fearing that global oil supplies may get tighter before we see meaningful relief." Global crude supply looks to be reduced by 13% for some time, and even ending the war tomorrow would leave supplies tight for some weeks or months while infrastructure is repaired, Suderman adds. WTI settles up 5.5% at $99.64 a barrel for a 1.3% weekly gain. Brent rises 4.2% to $112.57 a barrel and is 0.3% higher on the week. (anthony.harrup@wsj.com)

1507 ET - U.S. natural gas futures settle higher with support from a slightly cooler weather outlook and a rise in oil driven by the Middle East conflict. Overnight weather forecasts added some heating demand, and midday runs "trended further colder for late next week into the following week," NatGasWeather.com says in a note. "Weather patterns have trended closer to seasonal for the 7-15 day forecast period after being solidly bearish earlier in the week." A weekly drop of five oil and four natural gas rigs, reported by Baker Hughes, may also have contributed, the forecaster adds. Nymex gas for April delivery goes off the board at $3.095/mmBtu, up 3.2%. (anthony.harrup@wsj.com)

1504 ET - Front-month gold futures rose 2.7% to $4,492 a troy ounce Friday, turning around after dropping yesterday on a stronger dollar and Treasury yields. But it couldn't manage to turn positive today, and settled the week down 1.7%. It's the fourth consecutive negative week for gold, the longest weekly losing streak since 2023. "Precious metals have caught a bid," says Louis Navellier of Navellier and Associates in a note. But the determining factor for the longer-term trend in gold remains the war in Iran and how long the disruption lasts. Silver gained 2.8% today, to $69.545 a troy ounce. Silver managed to finish the week on the positive side, gaining 0.3%. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)

1418 ET - CBOT grain futures are lower after the EPA confirmed the 2026/27 renewable fuel obligations, estimating that "biodiesel and renewable diesel production and use will need to increase by over 60% compared to 2025 volumes." New standards, dubbed "Set 2" by the EPA, are welcomed by the agricultural market, but the new regulations were widely expected. "RFS Set 2 was bullish, in my opinion," says Brian Grete of Commstock Investments. "But [we're] getting a 'sell-the-fact' reaction ahead of the weekend." CBOT corn falls 1.2%, soybeans are down 1.4%, and wheat slides 0.7%. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)

1412 ET - The EPA's 2026/27 renewable fuel obligations included a provision stating that starting in 2028, foreign fuels and feedstocks will receive half the RINs compared to those that are American-made. But this is a disappointment to some analysts and traders, says AgResource in a note. "It was hoped that a half RIN on imported feedstock supplies would start this year," says the firm. "The full RIN makes it economical for foreign feedstocks to compete with U.S. supplies, and likely caps CBOT soyoil futures at 70 to 73 cents a pound under normal global weather conditions." Soybeans are now leading grain futures lower, down 1.3%, while corn drops 1.2% and wheat is off 0.8%. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)

1329 ET - The number of rigs drilling for oil in the U.S. fell by five this week to 409, while natural gas rigs dropped by four to 127, Baker Hughes reports. Oil rigs are down by 75 from a year ago and gas rigs up 24. In the Dallas Fed's 1Q survey of energy executives, 26% of respondents said the number of wells they expect to drill in 2026 increased slightly from the beginning of the year given the recent rise in oil prices, and 21% said they increased significantly. Half said there had been no change and 3% said expectations decreased significantly. "Executives at small E&P firms were more likely than their counterparts at large firms to indicate they increased the number of wells they plan to drill since the beginning of the year," the Dallas Fed said.(anthony.harrup@wsj.com)

1318 ET - President Trump says that he'll seek out additional funding for aid payments for U.S. farmers. Speaking to farmers in an event at the White House, Trump says that he will seek this out when Congress goes to pass its next government spending bill, on top of the $12 billion that began to be distributed to farmers. Trump also calls for the passing of an updated Farm Bill.(kirk.maltais@wsj.com)

1232 ET - Chinese industries are only feeling a limited pinch from the higher oil and gas prices stemming from the Iran war, says Zichun Huang of CapitalEconomics in a note. "The feedthrough from higher oil and gas prices to broader inflation has been relatively contained," says Huang. "Prices of agricultural products, which are exposed via both transportation and fertilizer costs, actually rose at a slightly slower pace this month." World metal markets have been under pressure on the expectation that higher energy costs are making their way into the cost to produce metal. But the impact of war will evolve in the coming months, says Huang. "The limited hit so far is consistent with our view that China is less vulnerable to the energy price shock than many other countries." (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)

1142 ET - Tanker rates for very large crude carriers from the Middle East to Asia have risen to record highs as a result of the virtual closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the EIA says in a note, citing the physical risk of attacks on vessels attempting to cross the strait and the high cost of war-risk insurance for vessels to do so. The effective closure has led to a backup of vessels confined in the Persian Gulf that had already loaded crude oil, reducing the availability of global tanker capacity, the EIA says. Tanker rates from Americas, particularly the U.S. Gulf Coast, have also hit record highs "because of high demand for crude oil and fewer vessels available for shipment," the EIA adds. (anthony.harrup@wsj.com)

1053 ET - Lean hog futures are down 0.2% following the USDA's Hogs and Pigs report showing a slight uptick in hog inventories, with gains in heavier weight animals. But some traders and analysts question the data, with livestock trader Dan Norcini raising concerns about how the USDA reported its breakdown of hog inventories by weight. Live cattle futures are up by 1.3%. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)

1026 ET - The amount of sugarcane and sugar coming out of Brazil has been lagging behind the pace seen last year, according to data from UNICA. The firm says that sugarcane output from center-south Brazil for the first two weeks of March was 30% below the pace of last year, at 1.31 million metric tons. Refined sugar output totaled only 6,000 tons, which is 89% lower than the same period last year. Total ethanol production is up though, to 460 million liters. That's up 4% from last year. Sugar futures on the ICE are down 0.8% to 15.75 cents a pound. Most-active sugar futures have gained nearly 25% since February, according to data from FactSet. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 27, 2026 16:15 ET (20:15 GMT)

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