Forex Contradictions President Donald Trump may not understand the complexities of currency valuations, but he knows their importance. His concurrent chastising of foreign governments for manipulating those values while making threats against the dollars’ worth not-withstanding. China has its own conflicts. President Xi Jinping reportedly believes the renminbi should be stronger due to the superiority of his country’s economy, but demurs to the cost of a strong yuan to exports. Currency traders scratch their heads. All governments are trying to currently free-ride their way out of COVID-recessions. “Command and control” China lacks transparency and jails dissidents (see Ren Zhiqiang); while western democracies lack...
What You Need to Know Today: Commodities were mostly lower across the board today after yesterday’s Federal Reserve meeting hinted at a potential interest rate hike later in 2026. The dollar index reached its highest level in over a year, and a strong dollar makes U.S. agricultural expor...
Tomorrow is the Juneteenth federal holiday, and the USDA, along with the rest of the federal government and the CME, will be closed, so the monthly Cattle on Feed report was released a day early. The total number of cattle on feed in feedlots with 1,000 head or more capacity on 1 June amounted...
From WPI Consulting
Forecasting developments in production agriculture
On behalf of a private U.S. agricultural technology provider, WPI’s team generated an econometric model to forecast the movement of concentrated corn production north and west from the traditional U.S. Corn Belt. WPI’s model has subsequently provided quantitative support to a multi-million-dollar investment into short-season corn variety development. WPI’s methodology included a series of interviews with regional grain elevators and seed consultants. Emphasizing outreach and communication with stakeholders who possess intimate sectoral knowledge – on-the-ground insights – is a regular component of WPI’s methodologies, made possible by WPI’s ever-growing network of industry contacts.