World Perspectives

Making Sense of the Economy

Q1 GDP growth is expected to be negative, per the Atlanta Fed “GDPNow.” Spending data is still generally positive through January, however, consumer confidence eroded sharply in February. In recent weeks, numerous economic indicators have shown decelerating spending and declining consumer confidence, with the GDPNow readout at negative 2.4 percent. As of 6 March, the Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow model is projecting Q1-25 US GDP to decline by 2.4 percent. Job growth in February was 151,000 new jobs, with the February unemployment rate nudging up to 4.1 percent from 4.0 percent. Wage rates were up 4.7 percent versus a year ago and continued to moderate. The February CPI was up 3 percent versus a year ago, with the PPI up 2.9 percen...

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feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

May 25 Corn closed at $4.5775/bushel, down $0.04 from yesterday's close.  May 25 Wheat closed at $5.3925/bushel, down $0.0125 from yesterday's close.  May 25 Soybeans closed at $10.295/bushel, down $0.0475 from yesterday's close.  May 25 Soymeal closed at $287.2/short ton, down $...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Liberation Day Pressures Grains but Cattle Rally to New Highs

President Trump declared 2 April as “Liberation Day” for U.S. trade policy, which is funny because the policies have nothing to do with liberating trade. That contradiction was not lost on the grain markets, which are facing retaliatory tariffs from major import markets, and futures...

“Reciprocal” Tariffs; Apocalypse Day, or Not; Misdirection

“Reciprocal” Tariffs President Trump’s political opponents acknowledge he is a great marketer and his multi-day hype of a “Liberation Day” came to a head today with the announcement of a minimum 10 percent import tariff and rates at generally half those charged by...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

May 25 Corn closed at $4.5775/bushel, down $0.04 from yesterday's close.  May 25 Wheat closed at $5.3925/bushel, down $0.0125 from yesterday's close.  May 25 Soybeans closed at $10.295/bushel, down $0.0475 from yesterday's close.  May 25 Soymeal closed at $287.2/short ton, down $...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Liberation Day Pressures Grains but Cattle Rally to New Highs

President Trump declared 2 April as “Liberation Day” for U.S. trade policy, which is funny because the policies have nothing to do with liberating trade. That contradiction was not lost on the grain markets, which are facing retaliatory tariffs from major import markets, and futures...

“Reciprocal” Tariffs; Apocalypse Day, or Not; Misdirection

“Reciprocal” Tariffs President Trump’s political opponents acknowledge he is a great marketer and his multi-day hype of a “Liberation Day” came to a head today with the announcement of a minimum 10 percent import tariff and rates at generally half those charged by...

FOB Prices and Freight Rates App (Updated 2 April)

Transportation and Freight Market Comments - 28 March 2025 By Matt Herrington Dry-Bulk Ocean Freight Dry bulk freight markets were mostly steady or slightly higher this week with steady improvements in demand for spot U.S. cargoes and for grains from the East Coast of South America. The industr...

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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.

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