Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s annual Wyoming speech sent metals, stock indexes, energy and Treasury bond futures sharply higher on Friday. His talk was mainly “dovish” in tone. Toward the end, Powell implied the Fed would delay tapering or raising interest rates soon, partially due to the COVID delta variant’s dampening effect on our economic recovery. ...

Threats of a slowing world economy due to COVID-19 concerns pushed crude oil down this week. Reduced air travel, a slowdown in Chinese oil imports, and a surging U.S. dollar, lowered demand for U.S. crude oil. Diesel fuel, heating oil, and gasoline tagged along for the trip South...

The “average” American chose to ignore the magnitude and urgency of climate change, while some even dared to deny it. Until this year’s droughts, fires and floods, that is. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which is comprised of 195 nations, released a new report Monday that paints a dire picture for our planet. ...

So far, North American pig farms have been free of African swine fever (ASF). No longer. It has been found in the Dominican Republic. Some think it’s not a matter of “if” ASF comes to the U.S. but “when” because the virus is highly contagious. It doesn’t infect people, but people can unknowingly spread it. Ticks, infected feed and other contact with the virus are how it’s transmitted...

The World Gold Council is reporting U.S. dollar dumping and record gold-buying, which has stimulated sudden interest in accumulating precious metals. According to the Council, central banks are buying in record amounts. Hot inflation numbers were announced in several European countries. ...

Floods in northwest Germany and Belgium early last week caused “devastation beyond words,” according to Chancellor Angela Merkel. It was viewed as unmistakable evidence of global warming by scientists and elected officials alike. Hundreds are reported dead and hundreds more are missing. Early estimates of the damage exceed $5 billion...

As of Friday, the intensity and number of extreme wildfires are breaking records in our Northwest and British Columbia. Much of our country is the driest it has ever been. Water wars are likely to become more common as shortages become acute. California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington are all under emergency conditions with Idaho also threatened. Nearly a million acres have burned, according to the National Interagency Fire Center...

Rain makes grain. Corn especially was the crop most in need of moisture this summer and we sure got a dose in the driest regions. December corn slammed down to a low Friday of $5.12 ½ after hitting a high of $6.11 on July 1. Soft, red wheat and beans tumbled too, but oats and Minneapolis wheat recovered price-wise as the drought continued in their regions...

The unprecedented heat wave hitting all of California, a wide swath of our northwest and British Columbia has come slightly sooner than climatologists predicted. We’re being served a wake-up call in the form of fatalities in Oregon, Washington and B.C, along with massive wildfires, drying reservoirs and infrastructure failures like buckling roads and power cables frying in the heat. ...

Following the two biggest bull markets in the history of copper and lumber trading, these two key components of the construction industry got hammered. Copper lost 10 percent of its value, and lumber went down 20 percent this week. Federal Reserve Chair Powell hinted at raising interest rates twice in 2023, which provided a headwind to prices. ...

News from the Bureau of Labor Statistics this week elevated concerns our buying power may in trouble. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose more year-over-year than it has since 2008, a financial moment most remember as volatile. The reported 5% jump in May from a year ago was higher than many economists predicted. ...

This week’s ransomware attack on the world’s largest meat company caused a substantial loss of weight and profitability. Nearby ranchers watched as truckloads of cattle arrived at huge Brazilian-owned JBS meatpacking plants, made U-turns and had to head back home. A Russian criminal group is believed to be responsible. Higher meat prices are expected as the result of the delay from the cyberattack...

The King of Commodities performed with grandeur this week as decisions to love it or leave it sent prices limit down on Tuesday, then locked limit up on Thursday. (The exchange restricts the amount prices may move daily in an attempt to reduce extreme price changes). Continued shipments to China, increased ethanol and feed demand, drought worries and our farmers' reluctance to sell merged to reverse corn’s downward spiral into a virtual upward explosion on Thursday...

Corn continued its rally, and expectations of higher prices for consumers for corn products contributed to heavy buying. By midweek, China bought nine million tons in 10 days, breaking another record. China is also buying up soybeans from Brazil...

The Department of Labor released its closely watched consumer price index for April, which jumped 4.2 percent — the biggest in any 12-month period since 2008. The core price index, which does not include the volatile components of food or energy, was up .9 percent compared to March. Up until now, March had been the largest single month jump since 1981. Labor costs and housing prices continue to rise at record paces...

Dry weather in Brazil, fears of drought in our Corn Belt and extremely tight supply fueled the perfect storm to drive corn prices into the stratosphere again this week. On Thursday, China jumped into the fray by buying US ag goods under the Phase II Agreement. ...

While all metals could play a role in supporting our post-pandemic economy, the demand for copper — also known as the red metal — may beat all other commodities when near-term demand is assessed compared to available supply. Copper is used in electrical wiring, appliances and plumbing for the construction boom as city dwellers rush to suburbs and rural areas...

Led by President Biden, leaders of 40 nations discussed a proposal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent from levels established in 2005. During the two-day summit, several wealthy countries supported the recommendations, while developing nations asked for financial help in responding to the effects of climate change. Canada and the United Kingdom pledged aggressive targets, and the European block agreed to spend a trillion dollars on becoming carbon-neutral by 2050...

This week, virtually everything went up — all commodities (agricultural and financial), real estate, wages, stock market, bonds, foreign currencies, lumber, sugar, even cryptocurrencies. The Labor Department released the Consumer Price Index on Tuesday, which showed the biggest 12-month price jump since August of 2018. ...

Corn blasted to its highest levels since 2013 with export demand and fears of the potential for hot, dry weather in the Corn Belt in coming weeks. On Friday morning, the USDA released a supply vs. demand report indicating that ending stocks were below expectations for both the U.S. and the whole world. May corn traded on Friday at $5.82 per bushel, up 20 cents from last week. December corn was at $4.98, up 10 cents from last week. May soybeans for delivery traded at $14.07...