World Perspectives

Weaker Consumer Finances Darken Economic Outlook, Despite Interest Rate Cuts

The past two weeks have seen the typical influx of macroeconomic data releases, most of which helped prompt the Federal Reserve to issue its 50-bps interest rate cut on Wednesday. While the interest rate cut was initially viewed as a positive signal (lower interest rates generally increase economic activity), history suggests rate cuts can precede market corrections or recessions. This is highly dependent on other factor at play in the economy, which WPI attempts to examine here.  WPI looks at macroeconomics through three primary lenses: national-level factors, consumer income and finances, and consumer spending. The first, national-level factors, includes items such as stock market valuation, the Treasury yield curve, and the inflati...

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Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday

U.S. financial markets will be closed in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, 19 January. As a result, WPI’s offices will be closed, and no issue of Ag Perspectives will be published that day. Ag Perspectives will resume on Tuesday, 20 January...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Some Rebound from WASDE Lows

By today’s close, losses in soybeans and wheat were down to fractions but corn could not fight its way back from USDA’s surprise bigger supply numbers in Monday’s WASDE. Volumes were generally light on this last day of trading ahead of Monday’s MLK holiday. Only the catt...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Mar 26 Corn closed at $4.2475/bushel, up $0.045 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Wheat closed at $5.18/bushel, up $0.075 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soybeans closed at $10.5775/bushel, up $0.0475 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soymeal closed at $290/short ton, up $0.8 from ye...

Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday

U.S. financial markets will be closed in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, 19 January. As a result, WPI’s offices will be closed, and no issue of Ag Perspectives will be published that day. Ag Perspectives will resume on Tuesday, 20 January...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Some Rebound from WASDE Lows

By today’s close, losses in soybeans and wheat were down to fractions but corn could not fight its way back from USDA’s surprise bigger supply numbers in Monday’s WASDE. Volumes were generally light on this last day of trading ahead of Monday’s MLK holiday. Only the catt...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Mar 26 Corn closed at $4.2475/bushel, up $0.045 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Wheat closed at $5.18/bushel, up $0.075 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soybeans closed at $10.5775/bushel, up $0.0475 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soymeal closed at $290/short ton, up $0.8 from ye...

Government Funding Update: ICE Policy Risks

This past fall the U.S. government was shutdown for the longest period in history, with a temporary reprieve reached to re-open the government until the end of this month (30 January). Regardless of what happens, USDA was funded for the year under the compromise package, thus keeping the agency...

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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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