Like the proverbial bad penny, the issues raised by the CFTC’s proposals to establish limits on the size of speculative positions held in derivative markets never seem to go away. Chairman Timothy Massad has indicated that he is determined to pass a final version of the related rules and regulations this year.Like the proverbial bad penny, the issues raised by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC’s) proposals to establish limits on the size of speculative positions held in derivative markets never seem to go away. The political class decided that a root cause of the financial crisis of 2008/09 was excessive speculation, however defined. One of the underlying themes of the famous Dodd-Frank financial market reform legislation tha...
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) on Wednesday. In July, the CPI rose 0.1 percent, seasonally adjusted, and rose 3.4 percent over the last 12 months, not seasonally adjusted. The index for all items less food and energy, or the “core” infla...
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.