General Comments Late yesterday the CME withdrew its 22-hour trading day proposal. Instead, it substituted a new proposal for a 21-hour trading day with electronic trading to begin at 5:00 p.m. CDT and run through 2:00 p.m. CDT. The previous proposal called for the trading day to run from 6:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. CDT. Increasing the market's daily down time from two hours to three hours may not seem like a major change, but it has earned the National Grain and Feed Association's (NGFA) endorsement. Previously, NGFA questioned 22-hour trading as not giving elevators and cash grain merchants enough time to bridge between two trading days without significant additional costs.The revised proposal will go into effect on 4 June, giving CFTC the...
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 €...
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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.