MON Monsanto Company (delisted)

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Grain, Soybeans Fall on Good U.S. Conditions

Corn and soybean futures fell Wednesday as a strong start to the U.S. growing season diminished the prospect of supply threats.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said earlier this week 79% of the corn crop was in good-or-excellent condition, higher than last year's 65% rating and more than expected. That was the highest on record for late May, said Doug Bergman, head of agricultural trading at RCM Alternatives.

Traders bet that would translate into healthy crops, and large supplies, come harvest time. Corn contracts for July delivery fell 1.6% to $3.93 1/2 a bushel at the Chicago Board of Trade, while July soybean futures fell 0.7% to $10.23 a bushel.

Effects of E.coli Outbreak in Lettuce Ripple Through U.S. Food-Supply Chain

A deadly E.coli outbreak tied to romaine lettuce has shaken consumers' faith in the nation's favorite salad green, resulting in millions of dollars in losses for growers, retailers and restaurants.

More than six weeks into the outbreak, prices for romaine, historically the most-sold salad green, have dropped by more than half. Grocers nationwide have been clearing it from shelves in hundreds of stores. Several restaurants that served romaine are facing lawsuits from customers, and wholesalers have had to quickly round up kale and mesclun for restaurants that struck it from their menus.

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Bayer Shares up on Long-Awaited U.S. Approval: UBS -- Market Talk

0915 GMT - Bayer is among the top gainers on the Euro Stoxx 600 index Wednesday morning after the U.S. Department of Justice granted conditional approval for its planned $66 billion takeover of Monsanto. "The approval was the last big hurdle for the deal," says UBS, which has a buy rating on the stock. Bayer is likely to announce a rights issue to finance the remainder of the deal in the coming weeks, says the bank. UBS says the size of the issue remains uncertain, but predicts it will be around EUR5 billion. The bank raises its target price to EUR130 from EUR120, while Bayer trades 3.3% higher at EUR102.08. (nathan.allen@dowjones.com)

Orange Juice Prices Tumble on Supply Worries -- Market Talk

1508 ET - Frozen concentrated orange juice prices fall sharply Wednesday, closing down 4.2% at $1.6270 a pound on the ICE Futures US Exchange, on worries that higher supply could cool the recent price rally. "Conditions are reported as generally good.... Some drought-busting rains have been reported in Florida in the last week, and most areas should have plenty of precipitation for now," says Jack Scoville, vice president at Price Futures Group. In other markets, July sugar is up 1.1% at 12.60 cents a pound, July cocoa adds 1.3% to $2,529 a ton, July arabica coffee adds less than 0.1% to $1.2030 a pound and July cotton ends down 0.8% at 92.49 cents a pound. (amrith.ramkumar@wsj.com; @AmrithRamkumar)

THE MARKETS:

Beef Packing Margins Rise to Record

Slaughtering cattle has never been so profitable.

Meatpackers' margins rose to an all-time high on Wednesday, according to HedgersEdge, as their processing index climbed to 291.60 per head. That was up almost 200% this month.

Cattle futures at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange bounced on Wednesday as traders bet the market was bottoming. The front-month June live cattle contract rose 2.8% to $1.0605 a pound late in the session, while the more-active August contract climbed 3% to its upper daily limit of $1.0445.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 30, 2018 17:40 ET (21:40 GMT)

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