There are innumerable variations among commodity funds and how they are managed/ traded, but they share one very consistent characteristic.Trading by pools of professionally-managed money, obtained from what are loosely referred to as investors, has been a factor in grain futures markets since the 1970s. Generically, these pools are called commodity funds or just simply funds. The concept, more or less patterned after mutual funds, usually involves a proprietor who creates a fund designed to speculate in certain commodity markets in a defined manner using a proscribed set of trading techniques and methodology. The first such funds to participate in grain futures markets (that we are aware of) were started on a small scale in the years follo...
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
Accountability and a comprehensive approach to export programming
WPI’s team helped construct a strategic approach to develop, implement, and track promotional activities in 8 key regions across the globe for an agricultural export association. With continued progress measurement and strategic advisory services from WPI, the association has seen its ROI from investments in promotional programming increase by 44 percent over the past 5 years. Not only does this type of holistic approach to organizational strategy provide measurable results to track and analyze, it fosters top-down and bottom-up organizational accountability.