corn Archives - Inflation Watch

The Fed’s Hawkish Pressure Is Working Against Inflation

Dr. Duru — Sun, 03 Jul 2022 05:32:02 +0000

The Federal Reserve has stuck by its aggressively hawkish stance despite massive pains suffered in financial markets and growing risks of a recession. Markets are so convinced by and so scared of the Fed that they have raced far ahead of current policy to anticipate a lot of price hikes ahead. Soaring mortgage rates are one example of the Fed’s sharp impact. The 30-year fixed rate mortgage was last this high during the recession of the Great Financial Crisis (GFC).

Source: Freddie Mac, 30-Year Fixed Rate Mortgage Average in the United States [MORTGAGE30US], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; June 28, 2022.

These suffocating mortgage rates are an important sign of victory for a Fed whose primary inflation concerns come from housing.

An even clearer sign of victory comes from the bond market, specifically the breakeven rates on five- and 10-year Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS). Reuters reported that these TIPS “slid to 2.636% and 2.362%, respectively, a level last seen in September 2021.” Nancy Davis, managing partner and chief investment officer at Quadratic Capital Management LLC, accordingly observed that “the breakeven market, the difference between TIPS versus regular Treasuries, is dramatically downward sloping. It’s barely above the Fed’s long-term average (inflation) target of 2%.” In other words, the bond market is already anticipating that the Fed’s aggressive push to normalize monetary policy and fight inflation will work.

A broad swath of commodities and commodity-related stocks are suffering under the weight of the Fed’s success. The charts below are just a sample: diversified commodities producer BHP Group Limited (BHP), iron ore producer Rio Tinto (RIO), copper producer Freeport McMoRan (FCX), and the metals and mining ETF (XME) (charts from TradingView.com). Even agricultural commodities like corn and lumber look like they have topped. Perhaps these declines represent the early signals of a recession. If so, those concerns may wait for a post-inflationary day.

BHP printed a double-top in 2022 BELOW the 2021 highs.

RIO topped out in 2022 well below 2021’s highs. It now trades at the November, 2021 low and is at risk of challenging the November, 2020 low.

FCX is close to erasing ALL its 2021 gains.

The SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF (XME) quickly reversed its entire 2022 breakout.

Spot corn prices closed below the uptrending 200-day moving average for the first time since January. The topping formation for 2022 looks like the dreaded head and shoulders top (shoulders in March and June, the head in April).

Lumber prices topped out in 2022 well below the 2021 highs.

Be careful out there!

Full disclosure: no positions

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Land prices have doubled in Iowa over the past few years

Dr. Duru — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 03:16:50 +0000

Land prices have doubled in Iowa over the past few years. The team at Planet Money conclude that the land boom throughout the agricultural U.S. Midwest is being driven by “real” economic forces. They identify low interest rates, grain traders, and government subsidies for ethanol as key drivers of this boom. Low interest rates are enabling land purchases. Grain traders and the demand for ethanol are driving up corn prices which in turn make land for growing corn more dear. Starting with auctions in Iowa, Planet Money takes us to a part of the country that is booming while much of the rest of the country is stagnating.

Finally, one “seasoned farmer” warns that this boom is indeed a bubble and points to the crash in land prices in the 1980s after a similar period of exuberance.

Listen to “The Tuesday Podcast: The Land Boom“

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Corn prices plunge “limit down”

Dr. Duru — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 22:25:03 +0000

After reporting on prices at multi-decade highs for foodstuffs like tea, cocoa, and sugar and soaring prices for oranges due to the Florida freeze, we finally have a food commodity plunging in price. Today, corn prices plunged 7.1% a bushel (30 cents) which is “limit down”, meaning the maximum allowed price drop on the exchange. The catalyst was the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reporting record corn production:

“U.S. feed grain ending stocks for 2009/10 are raised based on higher estimated corn and sorghum production. Corn production is estimated at a record 13.2 billion bushels, up 230 million bushels with higher area and yields. Corn feed and residual is projected
150 million bushels higher based on September-November
disappearance as indicated by the December 1 stocks. Partly offsetting is a 10-million-bushel reduction in food, seed, and industrial use reflecting lower-than-expected September-November shipments of high fructose corn syrup. Corn ending stocks are projected at 1,764 million bushels, up 89 million bushels and the largest since 2005/06. However, because of higher usage, stocks as a percentage of use are down year-to-year at 13.5 percent compared with 13.9 percent for 2008/09.”

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