Last week there were reasons for confusion on what direction the American dollar might take based on White House policy. Most of the confusion last week was driven by comments made by different members of the White House team. “It’s interesting, it’s almost like currency wars at the moment,” says Matthew Pot of Grain Perspectives… Read more »
Category: Currency Markets
Rear-view rate hikes concerning with economic fogginess ahead
As the Bank of Canada raised its target interest rate a 1/4 point this week, there is disagreement in how the Canadian economy will fare in 2018. While one or two more rate hikes are expected in 2018, there are also concerns on the horizon for the Canadian economy. As we hear from Farm Credit… Read more »
Could blockchain transform agricultural markets?
Before we begin to explain how blockchain may be a game changer for agricultural marketing let’s answer that question that is likely at the top of your mind. “What the the heck is blockchain?” According to the Harvard Business Review, it is “an open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and… Read more »
Canada reports a five month low in trade deficit due to rising exports
Both Canada and the United States released their export numbers for the month of October this week and there are some interesting takeaways. Fresh off last week’s third quarter GDP numbers that were dragged down by weak exports, the Statistics Canada trade data pushlished on Tuesday showed rebounding exports. Canada’s trade deficit shrank to a… Read more »
Canada shows surprisingly strong job numbers, weaker GDP growth
On Friday, Statistics Canada released its third-quarter economic report, which included an update on gross domestic product and job growth. With the Canadian government boasting a strong economy and North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) negotiations in an arguably precarious situation, many experts are watching the domestic economic climate very closely. Some of the highlights… Read more »
What happened to grain markets this quarter?
This week’s grain markets were largely influenced by that was happening in currency markets and government reports. The Canadian Dollar lost about 1.1% this week but has basically ended where it began September, up just 0.15%. On Wednesday, the Loonie saw it’s largest single day loss in eight months after the Bank of Canada’s governor… Read more »
Bank of Canada announces earlier-than-expected interest rate hike
The Bank of Canada announced its second interest rate hike in two months, surprising analysts, and raising the target interest rate by one-quarter point to 1 percent. The last interest rate hike was announced in mid-July, and was the first increase the country had seen in over seven years. Many analysts had expected Bank of Canada… Read more »
RealAg Markets: Second day of red all over the screen
The markets continued their strong bearish tone as grains and oilseeds pushed lower across the board for the second day in a row on Tuesday. On Monday, one excuse was that Friday’s bearish cattle on feed report sparked a push to sell. Expected rains in the U.S. midwest later this week have certainly driven some… Read more »
Cooling off? — This Week in the Grain Market
Grain prices over the first two weeks of July are still swinging a bit wildly as the market is trying to price in the recent heat. Scorching temperatures hit most of North America before the USDA came out with their July WASDE report on July 12th, 2017. The report was met with some bearish skepticism,… Read more »
Halftime analysis in the grain markets
As we turn the calendar into July, we’re taking a look back at the markets over the last six months. We’ll also offer our expectations for the balance of 2017. In our 2017 Grain Markets Forecast (posted in January), we made several timestamped projections. You can review them here at your convenience. The U.S. Federal… Read more »
Register for GrainWorld – Influencers Driving Innovation
November is always a very interesting time for the markets. Analysts begin to have an idea of the crop volume and quality and farmers and looking to solidify their new crop marketing plans and are already beginning to think about planting intentions for the coming spring. Farmers also have to increasingly pay attention to the… Read more »
The US Raises Interest Rates and the Canadian Dollar Goes Up – What is Going On?
Markets move up and down on news, anticipation and results. The currency market has some somewhat predictable drivers of the value of a given country’s currency. This past week, the United States Federal Reserve raised interest rates 0.25% and the impact in the Canadian Dollar value against the US dollar was a head scratcher. Although… Read more »
Speculative Support, Pulse Export Uncertainty & NHL Playoff Picks — Jon Driedger
Record production and big supplies continue to weigh on grain markets, and yet, corn and soybean futures have remained relatively strong, and even trended higher, since fall. “There’s definitely been a shift in the narrative, from an outside fund, speculative money perspective,” explains Jon Driedger of FarmLink Marketing Solutions in this market conversation. Driedger joined Shaun… Read more »
Accounting For Everything — This Week in the Grain Market
Grains this week trended slightly lower as concerns over crop potential and slowing sales muted any bullish headlines coming from new USDA acreage reports. Canola and oats were down 0.45% and 0.5% respectively compared to a week ago while corn and wheat lost 1.1% and 1.7% each. The soybean complex took the biggest hit though,… Read more »
Playing Teeter-Totter — This Week in the Grain Markets
Grain markets through the first full week of February swayed a bit on geopolitical risk and the market digesting the February WASDE report from the USDA. Wheat was the biggest winner of the week, thanks to smaller-than-expected global stocks in the report, up 4% for the week while, on the flipside, oats was the worst… Read more »