Coffee Jitters Crash Market

Coffee prices slumped this week to $1.16 per pound, the lowest level since 2013. Prices are falling as the world's top arabica coffee producers, Colombia and Brazil, are boosting exports following healthy harvests.

Another major pressure on the coffee market is that the Brazilian currency, the real, has been plummeting to record lows against the US dollar in value. A weak real allows Brazilian farmers to lower their prices in US dollar terms without hurting their bottom line domestically.

Even if coffee demand perks up, some analysts expect that ample supply will contain prices. Vietnam, the largest producer of lower-grade robusta coffee, has stockpiled over 20 percent of their harvest, the largest store in five years.

USDA Splits Beans and Corn

The USDA released its monthly Crop Production and Supply/Demand Reports on Friday morning, increasing expectations for the size of the US soybean crop while reducing the size of the US corn crop.

Current USDA projections show that the soybean crop will be nearly the largest on record, which dropped November soybeans Friday to $8.53 per bushel, the lowest price in over six years.

Meanwhile, the smaller crop outlook for corn boosted prices moderately, jumping December corn to a two-week high at $3.83 per bushel.

Gold Loses Luster

Gold prices continued declining this week, sliding as low as $1098 per ounce on Friday, marking the third straight weekly drop. Prices are falling as traders anticipate rising interest rates from the Federal Reserve on September 17. Gold is largely viewed as a safe haven against inflation, but rising interest rates can decrease investor expectations for inflation, cutting into gold demand.

Meanwhile, weaker economic outlooks in China and India are hurting gold demand, as those nations have been major buyers of the yellow metal in recent years.

As gold prices melted underneath $1100 per ounce again on Friday, some bargain hunters began taking note, hoping that the recent low price near $1080 an ounce would hold, allowing them to add to long-term investments.