World Perspectives

Strong Retail Sales Report and Inflation Outlook

The June retail sales report beat consensus expectations, rising 0.6 percent. Moreover, it was a strong report, with 10 out of 13 of the sales categories increasing. The largest increase was in the auto sector, a traditionally volatile category. June sales were up 1.2 percent, which came after a 3.8 percent drop in May, though the May report numbers were revised up in the June report to a much smaller drop. Astonishingly, auto sales are now up 6.5 percent over the past year.   Excluding auto sales, and the two other volatile categories, building materials and gas stations, the “core” retail sales posted a 0.5 percent increase. These “core” sales are up 4.5 percent in the past year, which is above the 3.9 pe...

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Market Commentary: Strong Grain Demand, Technical Factors Stabilize CBOT

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Trump’s Rhetoric; Ag Fear; Ag Trade Future

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Summary of Futures

Mar 26 Corn closed at $4.22/bushel, up $0.0225 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Wheat closed at $5.125/bushel, up $0.02 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soybeans closed at $10.425/bushel, up $0.0375 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soymeal closed at $291.9/short ton, up $0.3 from ye...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Strong Grain Demand, Technical Factors Stabilize CBOT

The CBOT finally saw bulls emerge after the past two days of selling as technical factors and strong corn and soybean demand supported positive sentiments. Futures were oversold based on short-term technical factors and, consequently, were ripe for a little bounce. The day’s news confirme...

Trump’s Rhetoric; Ag Fear; Ag Trade Future

Trump’s Rhetoric The timing for release of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on President Trump’s tariffs has been speculated by the media rather than preordained by the Court itself. Today came and went without such an announcement. The fundamental issue for the Court is whet...

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Summary of Futures

Mar 26 Corn closed at $4.22/bushel, up $0.0225 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Wheat closed at $5.125/bushel, up $0.02 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soybeans closed at $10.425/bushel, up $0.0375 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soymeal closed at $291.9/short ton, up $0.3 from ye...

FOB Prices and Freight Rates App (Updated 14 January)

WPI Grain Prices and Freight Rate App Note: you can also visit the app directly by clicking here. Supplemental Information The section below offers a concise view of the options available in the current version of the WPI FOB Price and Freight Rate app, along with a short “How To”...

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From WPI Consulting

Illuminating the value of technical research

On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.

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