Whether or not the Volcker Rule is needed is a debate that has passed as it will soon be in place. However, there will remain plenty of questions as to how it will work in practice.Next Tuesday, 10 December, promises to be a memorable day for U.S. financial institutions and markets. That will be the day, apparently, when U.S. government regulatory agencies approve the final regulations that enact the so-called Volcker Rule, a portion of the massive Dodd-Frank financial market legislation passed by Congress in July 2010 in response to the financial crisis and meltdown that occurred in 2008.The Volcker Rule, named for its key supporter, former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker, is arguably the most contentious part of the highly controversial Dodd-Fr...
What You Need to Know Today: The corn and soybean markets closed slightly higher in low-volume trade. The wheat market was mixed, with HRW continuing its downward trek on improved moisture. As expected, the bearish cattle on feed report drove down cattle prices and pulled hogs down with it. Mi...
Monday, 25 May is a U.S. holiday, and both the markets and our office will be closed. Please note that the next issue of Ag Perspectives will be published on Tuesday, 26 May. The WPI staff wishes everyone a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend...
USDA’s monthly cattle on feed report was released today. The total number of cattle on feed in feedlots with 1,000 head or more capacity amounted to 11.6 million head, 102 percent of last year. Source: USDA, WPI Placements were up, but part of that is attributable to persistent drought c...
From WPI Consulting
Communicating importance of value-added products
Facing increasing pressure to quantify the value of export promotion efforts to investors, a U.S. industry organization retained WPI to develop a quantitative model that better communicated the importance of exports. The resulting model concluded that value-added meat exports contributed $0.45 cents per bushel to the price of corn, increasing support for that sector’s financial support of WPI’s client. In addition to serving the red meat industry with this type of analysis, WPI has generated similar deliverables for the U.S. soybean and poultry/egg industries.