General Comments Perhaps the biggest story coming from today's markets has to do with the rapid decline of the U.S. dollar against every other major currency. This comes after the dollar index was at its highest level in three years last week. The dollar has strengthened in part because of expectations that the Fed will soon decide to ramp down its open-ended bond purchase program, which is to say slow down printing money in an effort to stimulate the economy. However, today's concern about negative economic signals such as a slowdown in manufacturing suddenly triggered some profit-taking that sent the dollar tumbling.After the U.S. stock market, being long dollars has been one of the best plays around so far this year. The dollar index...
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
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.