World Perspectives

Zero but Not Negative Interest Rates

The Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FMOC) was scheduled to meet on Wednesday of this week, but for the second time it took emergency action prior to the meeting. On Sunday, Chairman Jerome Powell announced a 100 basis point cut to the federal fund rate. This comes after the Fed announced an emergency 50 basis point rate cut on 3 March.  That puts the rate in the range of 0 to 0.25 percent, to where it was lowered in 2008 and stayed until the end of 2015. In his statement Powell generally ruled out negative interest rates like Japan and Europe have had. Back in the fall of 2019, President Trump tweeted several times that the Fed should adopt negative interest rates, or at least get down to zero rates so that the...

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feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Weather Pressures Grains; Crush Pace Boosts Soybeans

The CBOT managed to recover from a dramatic overnight plunge with soybeans leading the fight to put values back in the green. Most of the news coming out of the weekend was bearish – between larger Russian wheat crop projections, the advancing South American harvests, and generally favora...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Mar 26 Corn closed at $4.2625/bushel, down $0.055 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Wheat closed at $5.3775/bushel, down $0.11 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soybeans closed at $11.34/bushel, up $0.01 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soymeal closed at $305.8/short ton, down $3.4 fr...

House Farm Bill Text Released

Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, Glenn Thompson (R-Pennsylvania), released the text of the farm bill on Friday. Markup is scheduled for next week. Some key highlights are shown below.  Commodities: Directs reporting on dairy production expenses to ensure that producer costs ar...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Weather Pressures Grains; Crush Pace Boosts Soybeans

The CBOT managed to recover from a dramatic overnight plunge with soybeans leading the fight to put values back in the green. Most of the news coming out of the weekend was bearish – between larger Russian wheat crop projections, the advancing South American harvests, and generally favora...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Mar 26 Corn closed at $4.2625/bushel, down $0.055 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Wheat closed at $5.3775/bushel, down $0.11 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soybeans closed at $11.34/bushel, up $0.01 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soymeal closed at $305.8/short ton, down $3.4 fr...

House Farm Bill Text Released

Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, Glenn Thompson (R-Pennsylvania), released the text of the farm bill on Friday. Markup is scheduled for next week. Some key highlights are shown below.  Commodities: Directs reporting on dairy production expenses to ensure that producer costs ar...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

CFTC COT Report Analysis

The attached PDF offers graphical depiction and seasonal analysis of managed money and commercial traders' net position in key agricultural commodity markets. The data is, of course, taken from the CFTC's weekly Commitment of Traders report, using the futures only data. WPI recently completed a...

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From WPI Consulting

Infrastructure investment due diligence

On behalf of a Canadian oilseed processer WPI's team provided market analysis, econometric modeling and financial due diligence in support of a $24 million-dollar investment in a Ukrainian crush plant. Consistent with WPI's findings, local production to supply the plant and the facility's output have expanded exponentially since the investment. WPI has conducted parallel work on behalf of U.S., South American and European clients, both private and public, in the agri-food space.

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