World Perspectives

Tariff Follies Begin; Ludicrous Lutnick; Hill-arious Committee Picks

Tariff Follies Begin There is playing from strength, like having the leverage of oversized trade deficits, and then there is overplaying one’s hand. Blanket 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico for ephemeral reasons fentanyl and immigration, two things Mr. Trump cannot even control in his own country, seems rash. Canada and Mexico will retaliate, and they may even drag out negotiations in a gambit that American consumers can get as irate as government grant recipients were early in the week when the President tried to stall their payments. Using the trade imbalance as leverage to achieve improved terms of trade could be legitimate. The rationale is not only flimsy, but the implementation tomorrow without protection for existing dea...

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feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Oil Volatility Drives CBOT More than WASDE

Usually, the day USDA releases its monthly world supply and demand report – known colloquially as “WASDE day” – sees heightened volatility in CBOT ag futures. That was true again Tuesday, though there was little causal connection between the WASDE and the market’s...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

May 26 Corn closed at $4.5225/bushel, down $0.015 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Wheat closed at $5.91/bushel, down $0.1225 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soybeans closed at $12.0175/bushel, up $0.055 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soymeal closed at $314.5/short ton, up $1 fro...

China Market Analysis

Iran War The U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran are said to complicate the visit later this month by President Trump to China. As an ally of Iran and a major purchaser of its oil, China has an acute interest in the current war. It is especially being harmed by the shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Oil Volatility Drives CBOT More than WASDE

Usually, the day USDA releases its monthly world supply and demand report – known colloquially as “WASDE day” – sees heightened volatility in CBOT ag futures. That was true again Tuesday, though there was little causal connection between the WASDE and the market’s...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

May 26 Corn closed at $4.5225/bushel, down $0.015 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Wheat closed at $5.91/bushel, down $0.1225 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soybeans closed at $12.0175/bushel, up $0.055 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soymeal closed at $314.5/short ton, up $1 fro...

China Market Analysis

Iran War The U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran are said to complicate the visit later this month by President Trump to China. As an ally of Iran and a major purchaser of its oil, China has an acute interest in the current war. It is especially being harmed by the shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz...

Economic Outlook for 2026

The January jobs report surprised to the upside, coming in at 172,000 new jobs, well above the consensus expectation of 68,000. However, the February report showed jobs falling by 86,000, far off the consensus expectation of a gain of 60,000. This loss was driven by education, leisure and hospi...

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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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