Federal Reserve Bank

There was limited bullish or bearish news over the weekend and consequently most analysts were predicting a subdued week of trading. Instead, virtually all markets caught a stiff bid on Monday and the session turned out to be quite bullish and eye-popping volatile.

A majority of Federal Reserve Districts reported economic activity grew at a modest to moderate rate while agriculture conditions were mixed.

Another jump in consumer prices in September sent inflation up 5.4% from where it was a year ago, matching the largest increase since 2008 as tangled global supply lines continue to create havoc.

Murphy’s Law is defined as, “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” When it comes to markets — and, in particular, the commodity markets — prices that rise to unusually high levels or decline to humbly low levels happen because at some point “something went wrong” with supply or demand, or both. As a result, prices and values moved higher or lower accordingly.

Economic growth downshifted slightly to a moderate pace in early July through August and reports in the agriculture sector were mixed, but on balance positive across Federal Reserve districts in the Corn Belt.

The U.S. economy strengthened further from late May to early July, displaying moderate to robust growth while the agriculture sector continued to have mixed results across Federal Reserve System districts.

Agricultural sector conditions and outlook continued to improve across Federal Reserve System districts as the U.S. economy expanded at a moderate pace from early April through late May.

Farmland values in the first quarter of 2021 were 7% higher than a year ago, the largest jump since the 11% increase in 2012. The findings were from a survey conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and reported in The AgLetter.

Agricultural conditions were mostly stable across Federal Reserve districts as national economic activity accelerated to a moderate pace into early April. The economic conditions in the Federal Reserve System’s Beige Book were reported April 14 based on a survey of bankers, market experts, economists, business owners and community organization representatives.

Economic activity expanded modestly and agricultural conditions were somewhat improved through the first two months of 2021.