World Perspectives

Policy Opportunities and Risks

Two new reports out this week present government policymakers with informative but confusing insights on public perceptions. The United Nations issued its seventh “World Happiness Report,” and the OECD issued a first “Risks that Matter” tome. The volumes rely heavily on personal opinion surveys in various countries. The U.N.’s report developed out of frustration by countries whose economies grew too slow to continue reliance on gross domestic product (GDP) as the metric for satisfaction in life. Since money can’t buy love, income inequality is too narrow as a measurement. Bruce Meyer at the University of Chicago concurs that income is a poor guide, especially since consumption inequality has declined for...

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feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Strong Friday and an Upward Bound Week

If yesterday’s trading looked like uncertainty ultimately succumbing to the bulls, today’s trading opened with the bears fully in charge. Contracts opened lower and mostly stayed that way until late morning when there appeared to be an epiphany with the bulls and they took charge. I...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Jul 25 Corn closed at $4.425/bushel, up $0.03 from yesterday's close.  Jul 25 Wheat closed at $5.5475/bushel, up $0.0925 from yesterday's close.  Jul 25 Soybeans closed at $10.5725/bushel, up $0.055 from yesterday's close.  Jul 25 Soymeal closed at $295.7/short ton, down $1.4 fro...

Beyond the Report Headlines: Measuring Trump’s Effects

The BLS released the employment report this morning indicating that the U.S. added 139,000 jobs in May, down slightly from April’s revised 147,000, but slightly above pre-report forecasts of 126,000. However, payrolls were revised downward an unusually large 95,000 for the prior two month...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Strong Friday and an Upward Bound Week

If yesterday’s trading looked like uncertainty ultimately succumbing to the bulls, today’s trading opened with the bears fully in charge. Contracts opened lower and mostly stayed that way until late morning when there appeared to be an epiphany with the bulls and they took charge. I...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Jul 25 Corn closed at $4.425/bushel, up $0.03 from yesterday's close.  Jul 25 Wheat closed at $5.5475/bushel, up $0.0925 from yesterday's close.  Jul 25 Soybeans closed at $10.5725/bushel, up $0.055 from yesterday's close.  Jul 25 Soymeal closed at $295.7/short ton, down $1.4 fro...

Beyond the Report Headlines: Measuring Trump’s Effects

The BLS released the employment report this morning indicating that the U.S. added 139,000 jobs in May, down slightly from April’s revised 147,000, but slightly above pre-report forecasts of 126,000. However, payrolls were revised downward an unusually large 95,000 for the prior two month...

livestock

Even After Recent Market Gains, Hog and Pork Outlook Remains Rosy

Anyone following the hog and pork markets recently has seen the volatility that preceded the recent surge to new contract highs, and the lack of consensus in the industry’s outlook. The USDA will issue their quarterly Hogs and Pigs report at the end of June, which will help inform the ind...

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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.

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