The markets appear to be temporarily trapped in a no man's zone of market-making or breaking news. Consider:
Temperatures across the U.S. crop production regions remain above-normal, and extended forecasts suggest more of the same. That means the threat of frost damage to the late planted corn and soybean crops is basically gone. The market wants to see actual corn and soybean yield results, but there simply isn't much actual harvesting taking place. We tend to forget that when you plant a crop late and have a cool first half of the summer, those crops will also mature late. We read about better than expected corn yields in some other market commentaries, but we view those as general and anecdotal reports that are not very specific...
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 €...
Key Takeaways: The tariff burden rose sharply in 2025 and 2026: the effective rate on imports in HTS Chapters 1–24 increased from 1.53 percent in 2024 to 6.11 percent in 2025, before averaging 5.68 percent in January–August 2026. Headline rates tell only part of the story: exemptio...
