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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feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Bear, Bear, Every Where a Bear

Today was National Poinsettia Day, a plant that is supposed to symbolize goodwill and success but that is only true for the bears today.  There was red all over Chicago and New York as investors counted their blessings of too much grain and too much risk. The only thing rising in value was...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Mar 26 Corn closed at $4.4075/bushel, down $0.0575 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Wheat closed at $5.2925/bushel, down $0.0425 from yesterday's close.  Jan 26 Soybeans closed at $10.7675/bushel, down $0.1675 from yesterday's close.  Jan 26 Soymeal closed at $302.5/short ton, up...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Export Sales

U.S. Export Sales and Shipments for the week ending Nov 13, 2025...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Bear, Bear, Every Where a Bear

Today was National Poinsettia Day, a plant that is supposed to symbolize goodwill and success but that is only true for the bears today.  There was red all over Chicago and New York as investors counted their blessings of too much grain and too much risk. The only thing rising in value was...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Mar 26 Corn closed at $4.4075/bushel, down $0.0575 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Wheat closed at $5.2925/bushel, down $0.0425 from yesterday's close.  Jan 26 Soybeans closed at $10.7675/bushel, down $0.1675 from yesterday's close.  Jan 26 Soymeal closed at $302.5/short ton, up...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Export Sales

U.S. Export Sales and Shipments for the week ending Nov 13, 2025...

WPI Grain Transportation Report

Dry-bulk markets were softer last week with Capesize markets seeing weaker interest from East Australia and other Pacific locales. Traders are describing spot tonnage in the Pacific as “abundant”, a mentality that is pressuring rates. Similarly, demand for C3 ex Brazil and West Afri...

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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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