It was a quiet session (December corn contract volume was down 55 percent from the five-day average) in an early close before a long weekend as some profit was taken off the table, but there are still things to talk about.
Economists polled by Reuters ahead of today’s U.S. jobs report predicted a payroll increase of 3 million jobs in June; they were only off by 60 percent (+4.8 million). In a similar fashion, the average trade guess about Tuesday’s plantings report was a 2-million-acre reduction in corn and 1.8-million-acre increase in soybeans; they were only off by 177 percent and 75 percent, respectively. Do you see the pattern? Information markets based solely on opinion are highly dubious. USDA reports are the best...
The corn and soy complex closed higher, with the wheat market mixed, as winter wheat closed up but spring wheat and livestock ended lower. Part of the strength for corn and soybeans may have been a weather premium, as crop planting has started out fast but warm weather has been slow to develop...
Real GDP grew at a 2 percent annual rate in the first quarter of 2026, slightly below the consensus expectation of 2.3 percent but above the 0.5 percent growth in Q4 2025. The GDP number matches the average annualized pace of growth since the peak back in late 2007, right before the Financial P...
Reflect for a moment on what you eat. There is a lot of advice out there in the ether about what you should eat, but really, what do you currently eat and how much? The good people at the USDA have some data for you, to help you answer that question. USDA says that we eat quite a bit of meat. L...