Over the past week, the cotton and rice markets took off as the threat of Hurricane Ida loomed over the Southern United States. 

With a majority of the cotton still in the fields, some farmers talked of complete losses if they were hit with heavy rains.  On these fears, the cotton market exploded to a 14-month high on Wednesday at 70.61 cents per pound.  Similarly, rice hurdled upwards to10-month highs at $15.17 per hundredweight (100 lbs). 

After Ida made landfall and the damage had been assessed, traders felt that they had been overly bullish, causing a massive pullback on Thursday in the cotton and rice markets.  As of Friday morning, December cotton was trading at 66.5 cents/lb, and January rice was at $14.83 /cwt, each down significantly from their Wednesday highs. 

Cattle 

On Friday morning, the December live cattle contract, traded in Chicago, tumbled to a contract low at 82.65 cents per pound. Much of the downward pressure in recent weeks has been attributed to the high price of corn, which makes feeding the cattle unprofitable for producers. As such, many producers have been liquidating their herds, driving prices downwards. 

Due to the supply glut and a lack of demand among consumers, live cattle prices have fallen 25 percent from their highs last year near $1.10 per pound. 

Precious Metals 

This week, gold reached record high prices yet again at $1,123/oz. This price rise, driven mostly by fears of a weakening U.S. dollar, has given strength to other precious metals markets, such as platinum and palladium.  Both of these metals are also at one-year highs at $1,369/oz and $356/oz, respectively.

Opinions are solely the writer's. Walt Breitinger is vice president of commodities at Wells Fargo Advisors LLC. He can be reached at (219) 738-6460.