The concept of establishing a futures position that was equal but opposite to a position in the cash commodity, first practiced by buyers and sellers of grain, became known as hedging. The FASB is now expected to issue new hedge accounting rules sometime later this year.Buyers and sellers of a huge variety of commodities, including those used as raw materials, face the common risk that the value (price) of those commodities may move in adverse directions that threaten them with a loss. Historically, buyers and sellers of grain have usually endured such risks to a greater degree because those prices have always been subject to very rapid changes. The trading of grain futures contracts developed at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) in the lat...
What You Need to Know Today: Commodities were mostly lower across the board today after yesterday’s Federal Reserve meeting hinted at a potential interest rate hike later in 2026. The dollar index reached its highest level in over a year, and a strong dollar makes U.S. agricultural expor...
Key Market Insights Geopolitical Limbo: Geopolitical risk remained a key driver across global commodity markets today. President Trump stated that the Iran memorandum of understanding is not yet final and warned that military action could resume if negotiations fail. Both sides continue w...
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.