General Comments Even though the Spanish government yesterday put forward a package of tight budget and spending reforms, today's Spanish bond auction received something less than an enthusiastic reception by the market. Spain was not able to auction off as much as it wanted to, and all maturities went for higher interest rates than the last auction on 15 March. Eight-year notes went for 5.34 percent, and Spanish 10-year notes were trading in EU financial markets at 5.61 percent, which is sharply higher than 4.9 percent where they were trading a month ago. Analysts consider the Spanish austerity plans to be credible, but the weak results of today's auction have once again put the sovereign debt issue back on the market's radar.Meanwhile,...
What You Need to Know Today: Cattle futures extended their sharp selloff Friday as weakening cash cattle prices, deteriorating feedlot profitability, and reduced packer demand continued to weigh on the market. The inability of futures to sustain a rally following last week's bullish Cattle on...
As predicted, the Federal Reserve held rates steady at the last meeting before the midterm elections, likely in part because of the election (see WPI 19 October and 22 September). The decision comes at the tail end of a midterm election cycle that has been marked by the two parties campaigning...
Key Takeaways: WPI’s new EU rapeseed crushing margin models point to weaker processing returns over the next four months due to higher rapeseed procurement costs and weaker product values. Statistical forecasts call for German crushing margins to decline from €181/MT to €...
From WPI Consulting
Accountability and a comprehensive approach to export programming
WPI’s team helped construct a strategic approach to develop, implement, and track promotional activities in 8 key regions across the globe for an agricultural export association. With continued progress measurement and strategic advisory services from WPI, the association has seen its ROI from investments in promotional programming increase by 44 percent over the past 5 years. Not only does this type of holistic approach to organizational strategy provide measurable results to track and analyze, it fosters top-down and bottom-up organizational accountability.