Gloomy economic news sinks commodity pricesGloomy economic news sinks commodity prices

John T.
Barone

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors and management of Nation’s Restaurant News.

Fears of global economic slowdown, along with disappointment over the lack of stimulus from the Federal Reserve and Congress, led to a broad-based sell-off in both equities and commodities in September. This is the third major sell-off this year. The last two were very short lived, but this one might have some legs. Since the beginning of September, corn futures have plunged from above $7.50 to below $6, soy oil from 58 cents to 49 cents and coffee from $2.90 to $2.23. But fundamentals remain relatively bullish for proteins, particularly livestock futures, which moved higher over the same period. One positive for...