Ukraine-Russia War & Red Sea Shipping:  Positioning   The Ukraine-Russia Conflict saw little progress by both sides as Ukraine strove to shore up military funding from Europe and the US.  On the funding side, Ukraine shipped a record amount of grain through Romania’s Black Sea port of Constanta, with further…

During the month of December, Crypto (+11.71%) and the S&P 500 (+8.92%) were the top performers. The bottom performers were Softs (-7.67%) and Energy (-5.79%). Despite bank failures,  war in the Middle East and Ukraine, and a host of other problems, 2023 fought off a widely expected recession and finished…

Commodities: Global   OPEC Oil Output Fell Slightly in November, posting at 27.8 million barrels per day (mbpd), as a result of lower shipments by Nigeria and Iraq as well as Saudi Arabia and Russia reiterated their voluntary reductions.  The bigger news was that the OPEC meeting was delayed four…

Ukraine & Israel:  Attack / Counter-Attack   The Ukraine-Russia Conflict saw little progress by both sides as Ukraine strove to shore up military funding from Europe and the US.  Ukraine’s grain exports have fallen to around 13.4 million metric tons so far in the 2023/24 July-June marketing season, per their…