Macro Trends Data Point to Gradual Slowdown in China’s Domestic Economy A combination of tighter credit restrictions, the impacts of the trade dispute with the United States, increased environmental regulations and a slowing real estate market is weighing on consumer spending and industrial investment. China’s consumer confidence index, which has a range of 0 (for extreme pessimism) to 200 (for extreme optimism), dropped from 122.9 in May to 118.20 in June. That is its lowest level since reaching 114.7 in August 2017. Retail sales, a similar measure that captures the outcome of consumer enthusiasm, saw its month-on-month increase decline to 0.67 percent in July from 0.74 percent in June after climbing just 0.32 percent in May...
Given yesterday’s headlines, today’s market action may not be what many expected. The dollar is little changed, crude oil is pulling back and stocks are trading higher. Crude may be the biggest piece of today’s reversal. Saudi Arabia is offering additional crude to Asian buyer...
Key Takeaways: Managed money is holding more than one million net-long contracts across agricultural markets, with corn, soybeans, and soymeal all reaching record net-long positions in September. Fundamental concerns surrounding yields, supplies, and global availability have helped justify the...
Under an Executive Order on 4 September, USDA announced $50 million in new funding to help states establish or expand meat and poultry inspection programs as part of an effort to increase processing options for livestock producers. It’s called the Stand-Up Program, which will help states...
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.