War Impact:  Ukraine’s planting estimates started to solidify as areas under corn seeding were seen at 3.8m ha, down -31% from last year while areas under soybean were increased to 1.4m ha, up +12% from 2021.  The outlook for total area under spring crops was raised by +5% from a…

COVID-19   US Case Count Hit 57k as the seven-day average rose in April per the CDC with average US deaths falling to 293.  Germany, by comparison was at 83k despite their much lower population though their death rate was about half.  The FT reported for the first time that…

During the month of April, the top 3 performing sectors were: energies (+14.32%), softs (+5.00%), and grains (+2.89%). The bottom 3 sectors were: indices (-9.16%), metals (-4.16%) and currencies (-3.29%). The S&P 500 fell nearly -9.0% in the month of April, with the Nasdaq even lower at -13.56% with one…

War Impact:  Everyone knows that the fighting hit supplies and spiked commodities prices.  Pre-COVID Russia produced 11.4 million barrels per day (mbpd), which fell to 9.3 mbpd in mid-2020 and had been recovering ever since.  Russia’s production of oil and gas condensate in early April fell to 10.5 mbpd during…