TOP STORIES:

Corn Rises as USDA Cuts Production Outlook

Corn for December delivery rose 2.1% to $3.95 a bushel, on the Chicago Board of Trade Friday in reaction to the USDA cutting its outlook for 2020/21 marketing year production in its WASDE report Friday. Soybeans for November delivery rose 1.5% to $10.65 1/2 a bushel. Wheat for December delivery fell 0.3% to $5.93 3/4 a bushel.

Grain futures on the CBOT rose after the USDA cut its production forecasts for the 2020/21 marketing year in its WASDE report Friday. For corn and soybeans, the USDA cut its projections for crop production more than anticipated by analysts, to 14.72 billion bushels of corn and 4.27 billion bushels of soybeans, respectively.

Grain Traders Quickly Revert to Trading on Weather -- Market Talk

13:01 ET - Today's WASDE report from the USDA didn't provide much in the way of new information that changed the conversation among grains traders--leading them to quickly revert their focus back to weather issues once the report was released at noon eastern time. "Traders are quickly renewing their focus on severe dryness in Russia's winter wheat belt and in the US Southern Plains hard red winter wheat belt, which will continue to be the focus going forward," says Arlan Suderman of StoneX. Rainfall coming with the landfall of Hurricane Delta today is also a focus among grains traders. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com; @kirkmaltais)

STORIES OF INTEREST:

SpartanNash Shares Surge 35% as Amazon Gets Warrant to Buy Stake

Shares of SpartanNash Co. rose nearly 35% Friday after the grocery distributor issued a warrant to buy about 5.44 million shares to Amazon.com Inc. in connection with its commercial agreement with the e-commerce giant.

SpartanNash said the warrant carries an exercise price of $17.7257 a share, and that it is already vested for about 1.09 million shares.

SpartanNash, which in 2016 inked a deal to supply Amazon's distribution centers with grocery products, currently has about 35.8 million shares outstanding.

THE MARKETS:

Hog Futures Post Highest Close Since March -- Market Talk

15:56 ET - Lean hog futures trading on the CME closed trading Friday up 0.4% to 67.125 cents per pound. It's the highest that hog futures have finished since late March. Hog futures have risen 6.4% since Oct. 1, driven higher with cutout prices on the rise. However, in its WASDE report Friday, the USDA says that "the 2020 and 2021 pork export forecasts are lowered from last month on weakness in global import demand"--which could push hog futures lower next week. Meanwhile, live cattle futures finished virtually unchanged at $1.126 per pound. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com; @kirkmaltais)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

10-09-20 1745ET