Yesterday’s price pressure and commensurate rise in open interest suggested a fair number of new short positions were initiated. Today, however, positive news on U.S.-China trade talks sparked a modest rally in soybeans, wheat, and corn that likely saw many of those new short positions erased. The U.S. Trade Representative’s office said today that China had pledged to buy “a substantial amount” of ag and energy products from the U.S. That was (obviously) construed as bullish for ag markets, and traders responded accordingly. Wall Street is slightly higher with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones 30 indexes in the green for the day. The latest minutes from the Federal Reserve show central bankers are not eager to rai...
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...
Tomorrow is the Juneteenth federal holiday, and the USDA, along with the rest of the federal government and the CME, will be closed, so the monthly Cattle on Feed report was released a day early. The total number of cattle on feed in feedlots with 1,000 head or more capacity on 1 June amounted...
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.