OPEC+ Set New Production Levels at their January 5th meeting with a surprise 500,000 barrel per day (bpd) cut by Saudi Arabia for February and March while Russia and Kazakhstan will increase their official production by a combined 75,000 bpd for those two months. Oil prices jumped on the news,…

During the month of December, the top 3 performing sectors were: grains (12.61%), metals (10.51%), and softs (6.78%). The bottom 3 sectors were: interest rates (-0.12%), the Barclays CTA Index (0.73%) and livestock (1.68%). As 2020 came to an end, the markets continued to show strength after posting outstanding November…

COVID-19   US Economic Activity looks challenged in the month ahead due to COVID and the holidays, at least until the vaccines start rolling out. This month we feature US restaurant dine-in activity which began to fall again per OpenTable (see right).  Note that graph does not yet include the…

OPEC+ Reached An Agreement at their meeting on December 3rd to ease its output cuts next year by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd), 25% of the original 2 mbpd scheduled. Ministers will then hold monthly consultations to determine how to adjust production in subsequent months.  OPEC oil output rose to…