World Perspectives

What is a Recession and Why Does it Matter if We’re in One?

The news and political talk shows have been abuzz about whether the economy is in a recession, moreover, it has become political, with some Republican politicians and conservative commentators, almost giddy that the GDP contracted two quarters in a row, and some Democrat politicians and liberal commentators arguing that the economy is not in a recession – necessarily now. First, the two quarters of negative GDP is a rule of thumb; when it happens there is almost always a recession. But it is not, as we’ve heard on TV, the “technical” definition of a recession. In 2001, there were three consecutive quarters of negative GDP before the recession was declared. The actual technical definition is maintained by the Bureau...

Related Articles
feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

May 26 Corn closed at $4.43/bushel, up $0.0275 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Wheat closed at $5.92/bushel, up $0.0975 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soybeans closed at $11.58/bushel, down $0.0425 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soymeal closed at $329.7/short ton, down $2.2 fro...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Wheat Rallies on Falling Conditions; Cattle Surge to New Records

The CBOT received several pieces of key fundamental information on Tuesday, including updated production figures from CONAB, the results of the USDA’s Monday Crop Progress report, and fresh export sales of corn to Mexico. The result was that wheat popped higher on growing concerns for yie...

Congress Coming Back to Busy Agenda

The House and Senate are returning from their two-week Easter recess period with a busy agenda ahead. While the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown has now hit the two-month mark, a plan is emerging to use reconciliation to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs a...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

May 26 Corn closed at $4.43/bushel, up $0.0275 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Wheat closed at $5.92/bushel, up $0.0975 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soybeans closed at $11.58/bushel, down $0.0425 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soymeal closed at $329.7/short ton, down $2.2 fro...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Wheat Rallies on Falling Conditions; Cattle Surge to New Records

The CBOT received several pieces of key fundamental information on Tuesday, including updated production figures from CONAB, the results of the USDA’s Monday Crop Progress report, and fresh export sales of corn to Mexico. The result was that wheat popped higher on growing concerns for yie...

Congress Coming Back to Busy Agenda

The House and Senate are returning from their two-week Easter recess period with a busy agenda ahead. While the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown has now hit the two-month mark, a plan is emerging to use reconciliation to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs a...

livestock

Livestock Industry Margins

Beef packer margins deteriorated further last week to -$85/head, down from -$17/head the prior week, as continued strength in fed cattle prices again outpaced weakening boxed beef values. The Choice cutout declined $5.14/cwt to $386.41/cwt, while fed cattle prices rose $3.78/cwt to $388.36/cwt,...

Image
From WPI Consulting

Communicating importance of value-added products

Facing increasing pressure to quantify the value of export promotion efforts to investors, a U.S. industry organization retained WPI to develop a quantitative model that better communicated the importance of exports. The resulting model concluded that value-added meat exports contributed $0.45 cents per bushel to the price of corn, increasing support for that sector’s financial support of WPI’s client. In addition to serving the red meat industry with this type of analysis, WPI has generated similar deliverables for the U.S. soybean and poultry/egg industries.

Search World Perspectives

Sign In to World Perspectives

Don’t have an account yet? Sign Up