General Comments The "official" beginning of the global financial crisis occurred five years ago today in 2007 when the ECB was forced to pump 95 billion euros into markets on an emergency basis to insure liquidity. I am not sure that here in the U.S. we recognized that a financial crisis was underway in August 2007, but no matter. Someone in Deutsche Bank (DB) apparently became curious about this question: Starting with 9 August 2007, what asset would have made the best investment? Based on DB research, as reported by Dow Jones, the answer is a tie between gold and corn. Both gold and corn have gained 144 percent in the five-year period. Silver is next at 122 percent, and a distant fourth is Brent crude oil at 61 percent.Other more trad...
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.