Republicans Take VA Governor's Race | FTT Audio November 3, 2021
Corn and wheat futures extended Tuesday’s corrective pullbacks overnight, while soybeans also softened. As of 6:30 a.m. CT, corn and soybean futures are trading 2 to 3 cents lower, winter wheat futures are fractionally to 3 cents lower and spring wheat is mostly 5 to 6 cents lower. Front-month crude oil futures are around $1.75 lower and the U.S. dollar index is holding near unchanged this morning.
The two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting wraps up today, with the Fed expected to announce its intentions to taper the bond purchases that have been taking place at $120 billion per month. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has indicated the conditions regarding any possible increase in the Fed funds rate are totally different from the ones used to determine when to start tapering the bond purchases.
Republican Glenn Youngkin, in his first run for office, defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe for governor in Virginia, a state that’s been trending blue for a dozen years and would have been labeled a clear blue state had McAuliffe won. Among the reasons being cited for the Republican showing: President Joe Biden’s sagging approval ratings, an increasingly unhappy electorate and Republican cultural fights over “critical race theory,” immigration and vaccine mandates.
Mondelez International, the maker of Oreo cookies, Toblerone chocolate and Sour Patch Kids candy, is raising prices around the world as it pays more for ingredients, transportation and wages. U.S. consumers so far have proved willing to pay more for Mondelez’s snacks, the company's chief executive said, because they are spending less on eating and drinking at restaurants.
Using tariffs on trade to cut carbon emissions is being pushed by governments in the U.S., Europe and other developed nations, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports. The idea has the potential to rewrite the rules of global commerce.
China said it is targeting a 1.8% reduction in average coal use for electricity generation at power plants over the next five years in a bid to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
Shipping company A.P. Moeller-Maersk is reaping the benefits of global supply strains that have pushed up ocean freight rates near record levels and caused backlogs at U.S. ports. The company reported a profit of $5.44 billion for the September quarter, more than five times the profit it had a year ago.
More than 10,000 members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union at 12 facilities in Illinois, Iowa and Kansas on Tuesday rejected the second contract proposal from Deere & Co., with 55% of union employees voting against the offer.
Sources reported unconfirmed cash cattle trade around $128 in the Southern Plains and at $130 in Nebraska Tuesday afternoon. Those prices would be up around $2 from last week’s sales levels in those areas.
The CME lean hog index is down another 12 cents today, which is the smallest daily decline since Oct. 4 when the index rolled over after a modest uptick. Until there are signs the cash index has put in a bottom, however, the upside in hog futures will be limited.
