TOP STORIES:

Corn Rises, Hits Limit-Up on Rebound From Early-Week Selling

Corn for July delivery rose 6.4% to $6.64 1/2 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade Thursday, with grain traders seeing the losses from earlier this week as overdone. Wheat for July delivery rose 4% to $6.74 a bushel. Soybeans for July delivery rose 2.2% to $15.40 a bushel.

Corn futures soared today, closing limit-up after rising 40 cents per bushel. It follows a 5.6% rout on Tuesday. Grain traders say they got carried away by news China would curb some amount of importing in an effort to control commodity prices as their economy bounces-back post-pandemic. "It was only 1 million metric tons and the market overreacted," said Sal Gilbertie of Teucrium Trading. "The global corn balance sheet won't change at all with China's cancellation of a few cargoes."

Corn Exports Climb Over 6 Million Metric Tons

Export sales of U.S. corn exceeded 6 million metric tons for the week ended May 20, again due mostly to big purchases of new-crop corn by China.

For the 2020/21 and 2021/22 marketing years, corn sales totaled 6.2 million tons, with China purchasing 5.69 million tons for delivery in 2021/22. The high total comes after 4.34 million tons were sold last week.

Unilever Expands Alternative Foods Segment in Partnership With Enough

Unilever PLC said Thursday that it has partnered with sustainable-protein maker Enough in a bid to expand its plant-based meat and dairy alternatives business.

The Anglo-Dutch multisector retailer--which owns consumer brands such as Ben & Jerry's ice cream, Dove soap and Cif and Domestos cleaning products--said protein is a natural fit for its growing meat-alternative brand, the Vegetarian Butcher, which grew over 70% in 2020.

STORIES OF INTEREST:

Sanderson Farms Expects 'Volatile' Feed Grain Market -- Market Talk

0916 ET - Poultry producer Sanderson Farms says in 2Q earnings that it expects to see volatility in grains prices throughout the year. "Looking ahead to the second half of the fiscal year, we continue to expect prices paid for feed grain to be significantly higher for the year compared to fiscal 2020," CEO Joe Sanderson Jr. says. "Supplies of both corn and soybeans worldwide relative to estimated demand remain tight." Prices for corn, soybeans, and wheat have all climbed close to all-time highs this year, but have relaxed in recent weeks. "We expect prices through the growing season to be volatile given that good crops of both feed grains are needed to rebuild inventories," Sanderson says. Grains futures are up in pre-market trading Thursday, with corn up 0.9%, soybeans up 0.1%, and wheat up 2%. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com; @kirkmaltais)

Flowers Foods Raises Quarterly Dividend by 5% >FLO

Flowers Foods Inc. Thursday said its board raised the quarterly dividend by 5%, to 21 cents from 20 cents.

The new payout, equal to 84 cents a year, represents an annual yield of about 3.48% based on Wednesday's closing price of $24.15, up from about 3.31%.

Restaurant Workers Shuffle to Better Opportunities Amid Hiring Spree -- Market Talk

11:24 ET - As restaurants fill up with customers again amid the pandemic's easing, businesses across the board are hiring, leading industry workers to make lateral moves to better opportunities. In Lubbock, Texas, recently opened national-chain restaurants have hired complete staffs, in some cases drawing workers away from local mainstays, says Loyd Turner, CEO of Caprock Restaurants, which owns four local restaurants in Lubbock. Other workers are leaving for third-party delivery companies, or dropping out of the industry entirely, cowed by the instability the restaurant business showed during the pandemic. "Restaurants by nature offer hard, demanding and stressful work," Turner tells WSJ. "A lot of people don't want that anymore." (matt.grossman@wsj.com, @mattgrossman)

THE MARKETS:

Livestock Prices Inch Higher -- Market Talk

1504 ET - While grains futures made a big leap in trading Thursday, making up for weakness earlier this week, livestock futures did not get this strength - only inching higher. Most-active live cattle futures on the CME closed trading up 0.2% at $1.19875 per pound, while lean hog futures closed up 0.3% to $1.1685 per pound. "Feeder cattle demand was hurt by the sharply higher feed prices, while the live cattle and lean hog futures markets are more quietly mixed," says Arlan Suderman of StoneX. Stronger export sales reported this morning provided some support for livestock, despite the jump in feed costs. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com; @kirkmaltais)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

05-27-21 1737ET