The Fed's decision to move into round three of quantitative easing (QE3) was a bit of a surprise -- at least it wasn't expected to happen during the Fed's September meeting. Consensus opinion was that the Fed might hold out a bit longer to see how the economy is doing. Ultimately, it appeared that stagnation in the eurozone and in China trumped the will to wait. Global money supply has dropped recently, and in the U.S. the velocity of money has dropped as well. This year, the M2 money velocity dropped below an index of 1.6 for the first time since records have been kept (1959). Remember, a key to the financial crisis was a drop in money velocity (see chart below and the drop between Q3 2008 and 2009).The fact that velocity is at an all-ti...
What You Need to Know Today: U.S. weather is getting more attention this week as conditions vary greatly across the western, central, and eastern corn belts, with the different regions battling dryness and too much rain simultaneously. The ProFarmer Crop Tour began today in Indiana and Nebrask...
Unlike the 2022 fertilizer shock, today’s disruption is rooted less in rerouted trade flows and more in damaged production capacity, raw material constraints and uncertain recovery timelines. That makes this a longer-duration risk for U.S. agricultural producers and retailers who must sec...
From WPI Consulting
Infrastructure investment due diligence
On behalf of a Canadian oilseed processer WPI's team provided market analysis, econometric modeling and financial due diligence in support of a $24 million-dollar investment in a Ukrainian crush plant. Consistent with WPI's findings, local production to supply the plant and the facility's output have expanded exponentially since the investment. WPI has conducted parallel work on behalf of U.S., South American and European clients, both private and public, in the agri-food space.