The Weekender

It was a week that started with optimism and ended with a faceplant.

Markets rallied early in the week, testing prior highs on optimism surrounding U.S.-China trade talks and a relatively supportive May WASDE report, before collapsing into week’s end as the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing failed to deliver the Chinese commodity purchase commitments many in the market had been banking on.

USDA’s May WASDE was largely in line with expectations outside of a smaller-than-expected wheat crop. Without any other major bullish surprises from the report, bulls were left leaning almost entirely on the China demand narrative — one that ultimately disappointed by week’s end.

Old crop July corn finished the week down 15 cents (-3.3%), while July soybeans gave back 31 cents (-2.6%). July CBOT wheat managed to close up a modest 16¾ cents on the week (+2.7%), but not before collapsing 57 cents from its midweek peak. Cotton was the week’s biggest ag loser, dropping 4.12 cents (-4.9%) amid demand uncertainty and broader macro headwinds.

While U.S.-China meetings in Beijing appeared successful — followed by positive Truth Social posts from Trump and comments to the media that could certainly be interpreted as constructive for both sides — ag markets were largely left out in the cold.

The meetings appeared to wrap up without any meaningful new ag purchase commitments — particularly for products like corn, sorghum, or cotton that much of the market had been hoping to see included.

One of the more noteworthy post-meeting comments came from U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer speaking to Bloomberg.

About 30 seconds into the clip, Greer stated: