World Perspectives

The Fed’s Upcoming Decision: To Cut or Not to Cut?

The Federal Reserve looks poised to cut interest rates - or does it? This depends upon whether you consider what the Fed says it looks at – inflation and job growth – or read the minutes of its last meeting. Of course, the decision is catalyzed by the president’s jawboning the central bank to ease up on interest rates. On one hand, the economic data reports from this week would normally inspire the Fed to be more hawkish or, at least, stay the course. Consumer prices rose 0.1 percent in June and are up 1.6 percent in the past year. More significantly, the Fed focuses on "core inflation," which is the rate of price increases for sectors other than ag and energy. That rate grew 0.3 percent in June, the highest monthly incre...

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feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

CFTC COT Report Analysis

Friday’s CFTC report showed funds further expanding long positions across the major ag futures contracts for the sixth straight week. Funds added 176,000 contracts (60 percent) to their all-ags net long position, with strong and mostly uniform buying across the ag sector.  The soy co...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Green Despite Many Obstacles

There was mostly green on the board for Friday and for the week as a whole. Another contract high was printed by soyoil as higher energies, higher inflation, and heightened geopolitical tensions all favored commodities.  There are some topical contrasts. For example, the cattle market is t...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

May 26 Corn closed at $4.485/bushel, up $0.05 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Wheat closed at $5.915/bushel, up $0.17 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soybeans closed at $11.7075/bushel, up $0.0725 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soymeal closed at $320.5/short ton, down $0.4 from...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

CFTC COT Report Analysis

Friday’s CFTC report showed funds further expanding long positions across the major ag futures contracts for the sixth straight week. Funds added 176,000 contracts (60 percent) to their all-ags net long position, with strong and mostly uniform buying across the ag sector.  The soy co...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Green Despite Many Obstacles

There was mostly green on the board for Friday and for the week as a whole. Another contract high was printed by soyoil as higher energies, higher inflation, and heightened geopolitical tensions all favored commodities.  There are some topical contrasts. For example, the cattle market is t...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

May 26 Corn closed at $4.485/bushel, up $0.05 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Wheat closed at $5.915/bushel, up $0.17 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soybeans closed at $11.7075/bushel, up $0.0725 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soymeal closed at $320.5/short ton, down $0.4 from...

livestock

Cold Storage Report: Up over Last Month, Down on the Year

The Cold Storage report for January showed that red meat and poultry supplies rose from the month ending December, but total supplies are down from a year ago and well below the 5-year average. Total supplies were 1.878 billion pounds, down 2.5 percent from a year ago. This indicates a tighteni...

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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.

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