The CBOT tried – and mostly succeeded – to reverse Friday’s selloff with corn, wheat, and the soy complex all turning higher to start the first full trading week of 2025. The fundamental catalysts for the day’s strength were the slide in the U.S. dollar, thanks to more trade-friendly (or at least less trade-punitive) news from the incoming Trump administration, as well as continued dry forecasts for Argentina. Traders were also more bullish following the wheat market’s decline to fresh contract lows last week with bottom-picking and short covering trade helping support the day’s price action. The day’s trade also saw heavy influences from pre-WASDE positioning with markets trying to find comfortable ranges ahead of the report. Argentin...
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.