General Comments Spain sold a greater volume of short-term notes than expected and at a lower interest cost than expected, which caused the mood of Europe's financial markets to do an about-face. The yield on Spanish bonds also ticked lower in the secondary market. Markets had been fearful that Spain's auction of short term notes and of 10-year bonds later this week would find poor acceptance. On this side of the Atlantic another series of better than expected quarterly earnings cheered investors. In just 24 hours financial market doom-and-gloom turned into smiley-faced optimism.The result was a return of buyers to commodity and equity markets. Most commodity prices moved higher. Crude oil was up with NYMEX May closing at $104.20, up $1...
Key Takeaways: President Trump announced $8 billion in additional agricultural assistance through the Harvest Fuel Relief Program, as USDA projects farm fuel and oil expenses will increase 28.8 percent in 2026. The package follows $12 billion in earlier relief, while government farm payments w...
Key Takeaways: A student group from the University of Chicago is protesting to bring back onion futures trading. Trading in onion futures was banned in 1958 following a spectacular bout of market manipulation that resulted in a corner of the physical market. The ban on onion futures led t...
Beef packer margins deteriorated to $141/head last week, down $55 from the prior week as fed cattle prices strengthened while the Choice cutout remained nearly unchanged. The cutout held near $373/cwt while fed cattle prices climbed $4/cwt to $224/cwt, narrowing processor profits. Despite the d...
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.