World Perspectives

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 months, leaving the net gain of jobs, including revisions, at 44,000. Following payrolls there are three sectors it is useful to exclude: government, education and health services, and leisure and hospitality – all of which are heavily influenced by government spending and regulation. This includes COVID lockdowns and re-openings for leisure and hospitality jobs. This measure of “core payrolls” increased only 5,000 in May and is up only a...

Related Articles
feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Bottom Signaled; Beef Attacked

Fund buying is signaling it is the market bottom for grains, because they say so. And beef has hit a market top because President Trump says it has. Of course, it is more complex than that but those are authoritative sources.  The corn market did not wait for such signals, instead rallying...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Dec 25 Corn closed at $4.225/bushel, up $0.0075 from yesterday's close.  Dec 25 Wheat closed at $5.0375/bushel, up $0.0125 from yesterday's close.  Nov 25 Soybeans closed at $10.195/bushel, up $0.0875 from yesterday's close.  Dec 25 Soymeal closed at $281/short ton, up $4.1 from...

livestock

Trump Announces Cattle and Beef Plan: Color Us Suspicious

This morning, President Trump announced that the administration is working on a plan to lower beef prices. The price of beef is "higher than we want it, and that's going to be coming down pretty soon too. We did something, we worked out magic" Trump said, with no details offered.   As...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Bottom Signaled; Beef Attacked

Fund buying is signaling it is the market bottom for grains, because they say so. And beef has hit a market top because President Trump says it has. Of course, it is more complex than that but those are authoritative sources.  The corn market did not wait for such signals, instead rallying...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Dec 25 Corn closed at $4.225/bushel, up $0.0075 from yesterday's close.  Dec 25 Wheat closed at $5.0375/bushel, up $0.0125 from yesterday's close.  Nov 25 Soybeans closed at $10.195/bushel, up $0.0875 from yesterday's close.  Dec 25 Soymeal closed at $281/short ton, up $4.1 from...

livestock

Trump Announces Cattle and Beef Plan: Color Us Suspicious

This morning, President Trump announced that the administration is working on a plan to lower beef prices. The price of beef is "higher than we want it, and that's going to be coming down pretty soon too. We did something, we worked out magic" Trump said, with no details offered.   As...

livestock

Record Breaking Cow-Calf Profitability for 2025

With October and the fall calf run now officially here, the beef industry is getting its first look at the realized profitability of many cow-calf operations. Most operations wean and market calves in the fall, starting in September or early October and running through December, which means Q4...

Image
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.

Search World Perspectives

Sign In to World Perspectives

Don’t have an account yet? Sign Up