World Perspectives

Jobs Report and How the Fed Will See It

Today’s jobs report was highly anticipated as a key benchmark before the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting later this month and expected to be a factor in the Fed’s decision of whether to cut the federal funds rate by 25 basis points or 50 basis points. As it happens, today’s report was, in a word, mixed.  Payrolls for August were up 142,000 jobs. This was below the average monthly gain of 202,000 over the prior 12 months. About 45 percent of the gains were in two sectors. First, construction at 34,000 jobs was above the 19,000 average of the past 12 months.   That is a bullish move in that sector considering housing starts were down 6.8 percent in July, with single family home starts at a 16 mo...

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feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: A Strong Close for the Week

Markets were higher in the overnight and were all green at the open this morning. By the end of the session, most remained higher except meal and HRS. It was mostly a bounce back Friday instead of a profit taking end of the week. Though there was generally some of the lowest volumes traded for...

Tariffs and the Value of the U.S. Dollar

The U.S. dollar has declined in value by 6.8 percent over the course of 2025, despite rising from its July lows. Typically, the value of the dollar strengthens during time of economic or geopolitical chaos, but not this year. Two major factors in the decline have been interest rates and Trump&r...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Export Sales

Export Sales and Shipments for August 1-7, 2025.  Wheat: Net sales of 722,800 metric tons (MT) for 2025/2026 were down 2 percent from the previous week, but up 14 percent from the prior 4-week average. Export shipments of 340,800 MT were down 49 percent from the previous week and 37 percen...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: A Strong Close for the Week

Markets were higher in the overnight and were all green at the open this morning. By the end of the session, most remained higher except meal and HRS. It was mostly a bounce back Friday instead of a profit taking end of the week. Though there was generally some of the lowest volumes traded for...

Tariffs and the Value of the U.S. Dollar

The U.S. dollar has declined in value by 6.8 percent over the course of 2025, despite rising from its July lows. Typically, the value of the dollar strengthens during time of economic or geopolitical chaos, but not this year. Two major factors in the decline have been interest rates and Trump&r...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Export Sales

Export Sales and Shipments for August 1-7, 2025.  Wheat: Net sales of 722,800 metric tons (MT) for 2025/2026 were down 2 percent from the previous week, but up 14 percent from the prior 4-week average. Export shipments of 340,800 MT were down 49 percent from the previous week and 37 percen...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Another Day in a Sea of Red

After a three-day rally, the soybean complex drifted lower, wheat continued its bearish decline, and corn miraculously escaped another day of damage.  The market now awaits crop tour results, which at their onset appear to be confirming USDA’s view of big yields. Barring a miraculous...

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From WPI Consulting

Illuminating the value of technical research

On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.

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