Political Speculation: President Barack Obama's proposal today to crack down on financial speculators in the oil market was met with a deserved characterization as pure politics. The previous task force he created on this topic has never reported a problem and CFTC Commissioner Gary Gensler has ample authority to stop the "illegal manipulation" in the market proclaimed by the White House. The president has apparently found the "silver bullet" he claimed earlier was illusive in combating high fuel prices, but the market was unimpressed. Crude rose 1.2 percent to $104.20/barrel on prospects that the domestic supply will get tighter as the Seaway pipeline enables supplies to move out of the interior. The financial sector reacted to the threa...
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.