World Perspectives

Third Way Sought

Economists are debating the current geopolitical hand that has been dealt, and how best to play it. President Biden has made a major shift toward government directed self-sufficiency in critical minerals, automation, and decarbonation where validity gets hotly debate. At the same time, he has embraced protectionism and unionization, both inflationary concepts. But their choices in Europe are also controversial.  The European system of health care and pensions boosted longevity, and the energy efficiency efforts have been world leading. At the same time, compound annual GDP growth in the U.S. has been three times faster. The mix of high taxes, labor unions, high unemployment and energy dependence on Russia have been a drag. Now the Con...

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feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

CFTC COT Report Analysis

Friday’s CFTC report showed managed money traders became slightly more bearish the major ag markets, last week with steady net selling across the grains and oilseed complex. Funds expanded their net short position across all ags by roughly 4.7 times last week and now hold a meaningful pos...

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...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

CFTC COT Report Analysis

Friday’s CFTC report showed managed money traders became slightly more bearish the major ag markets, last week with steady net selling across the grains and oilseed complex. Funds expanded their net short position across all ags by roughly 4.7 times last week and now hold a meaningful pos...

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...

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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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