World Perspectives

Tariffs and Treasury Bonds

Treasury securities are one of the safest investments in times of economic chaos. Proof of that in the havoc over the present trade disputes may be the current flattening of the yield curve in bonds. With last year’s tax cut bill and the effective moratorium on new regulations, the economy has been solid (to put it mildly). Consider the following: Corporate profits reported at the end of June (with the GDP growth rate) were a record $1.92 trillion on an annualized basis, up more than 16 percent versus last year. Truck tonnage, which reflects the amount of freight of manufactured goods and goods destined for retail sale, was up 9.5 percent from May 2017 to April 2018. Intermodal rail shipments through the first five months of the...

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The CBOT was mostly higher to end a mostly bearish week with wheat leading the way on several mildly bullish developments. Wheat futures saw price-supportive development in the IGC’s lower 2024/25 global ending stocks forecast, dryness in the U.S. Southern Plains, and smaller Russian 2024...

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CFTC COT Report Analysis

Based on futures’ price action late last week and early this week, one would be expecting funds to have been net sellers in the major ag commodities, and that’s exactly what happened. Funds expanded their short soybean position by some 30,000 contracts, making it a new five-year low...

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USDA released the monthly Cattle on Feed report today. Total inventory, placements and marketings all came in lower than the pre-report estimates, though total inventory was at the same volume or higher than last year for the seventh consecutive month. Placements came in well below the average...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: CBOT Gains to Close Week; Wheat Firms on Bullish News

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Based on futures’ price action late last week and early this week, one would be expecting funds to have been net sellers in the major ag commodities, and that’s exactly what happened. Funds expanded their short soybean position by some 30,000 contracts, making it a new five-year low...

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Cattle on Feed Report: Placements and Marketings Dropped Sharply

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feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

May 24 Corn closed at $4.335/bushel, up $0.0675 from yesterday's close.  Jul 24 Wheat closed at $5.6675/bushel, up $0.1375 from yesterday's close.  May 24 Soybeans closed at $11.505/bushel, up $0.1625 from yesterday's close.  Jul 24 Soymeal closed at $343.2/short ton, up $5.8 fro...

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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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