Ukraine:  Grain, Natural Gas & Sanctions Impact   Ukraine Launched Limited Counter-offensives with some high profile partisan attacks.  While these efforts cannot take much back in the way of territory, limited offensive military capacity (remember that Ukraine is about 1/3rd the population of Russia at 45m versus 145m) precludes most…

During the month of August, the top sectors were: Softs (+7.60%) and Grains (+1.01%). The bottom 3 sectors were: Crypto (-10.66%), Livestock (-6.45%) and Indices (-4.50%). The US dollar remains king and continues to make highs as the Euro and Yen are on 20 year lows against the dollar. Most…

COVID-19   US Case Count Held at 116k as the seven-day average was generally stable per the CDC with seven-day average US deaths moving up to 375 (which was less than half the rate per million in highly restrictive New Zealand and Israel, and about the same rate as also-restrictive…

OPEC Production Increased to 29.0 million barrels per day (mbpd) during July, less than current quotas but shrinking the chronic underproduction deficit.  Adding in Russia and the other OPEC+ members, output increased by 527,000 bpd, led by Russia.  Kazakhstan saw production fall by -317,000 bpd due to field maintenance.  Libya’s…