Reminder: the CBOT and CME markets will be closed Sunday night, 1 September and during the day on Monday, 2 September in observance of the U.S. Labor Day holiday. The markets will resume trading at 7 PM CDT Monday. The CBOT was mixed today as heavy wheat deliveries and liquidation ahead of a three-day weekend kept wheat on the defensive and capped any corn rallies. Trading volume was low and slow ahead of the weekend with spread trading and position adjusting based on the weekend weather forecasts. The weekend weather will largely determine next week’s market direction. Brokers suggest funds bought ~4,000 contracts of corn and soybeans while selling 4,500 contracts of wheat. The CFTC report found (through Tuesday)...
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.