Commodities Stabilize After Metals Rout as Grains and Cattle Rebound

Overview

• Monday opened broadly weaker with energies leading declines, while risk from the metals selloff weighed on commodity trade.
• Silver fell 26% and gold 9% on Friday, prompting CME to raise margins for both contracts as reports cited heavy losses for some Chinese metals traders.
• A stronger U.S. dollar tied to President Trump’s nomination of Kevin Warsh for Fed chair added pressure to dollar‑priced commodities.
• Early Tuesday, grains and softs showed modest recoveries with soybeans supported by bean oil, corn and wheat slightly higher, and cotton ticking up; USDA data showed record December corn use for ethanol and a 229.84 million‑bushel soybean crush.
• Livestock repriced on USDA’s Cattle Inventory report, with cattle rallying Monday as total cattle and calves were 86.155 million head and beef cows down 1.02% year over year, while hogs advanced on stronger pork cutout values.