As WPI has reported many times over the past two years, conventional economic data is difficult to decipher because the impact of COVID and its aftermath were anything but conventional. It was concurrently an increase in consumer spending power and demand, while a slow-down, to shut down in economic activity. That lead to all kinds of distortions, many may still be on-going. Nonfarm payrolls increased 339,000 in May, easily beating the consensus expected 195,000 jobs. However, on the other hand, civilian employment, an alternative measure of job growth that includes small business start-ups, declined 310,000 in May. Not only have the two measures diverged, but the gap is at its widest since the COVID pandemic.
What does this mean?...
What You Need to Know Today: The hot, dry weather forecast continues to drive strength in grain futures with corn and soybeans hitting another day of strong gains. Monday’s Crop Progress and Conditions data were in line with market expectations and showed relatively few concerns for the...
Yesterday we wrote about the Q1 GDP numbers and the June employment reports in an article entitled Real GDP for Q1 Relying on AI Buildout, Held Back by Consumer Spending. That article mentioned that consumer spending had become a drag on GDP. Nonetheless, real GDP in Q1 was revised upward to 2...
Key Takeaways: The Middle East and North Africa's arid climate and limited water resources have created a structural dependence on imported wheat. Government wheat tenders in major importing countries serve as important benchmarks for global trade, providing insight into exporter competitivene...
