08/23/24 Afternoon CommStock Report – Grains Getting Mixed Feelings from the Fed

There has been much ado about the central bank conference in Jackson Hole this week. It is always an interesting event to think about, if largely because of many people’s fondness for Wyoming and that part of the Rocky Mountains. This year’s economic symposium seemingly carried higher significance because of the approaching interest rate cuts, which are left open for prediction as to how large the first cut will be and to what eventual low rates will fall.   Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell delivered his speech to the conference on Friday morning. Stock futures and gold liked it that interest rates were trading lower before the speech, and this continued after Powell stated directly that “the time has come” for interest rates to drop, except then the dollar index broke to a new low for the year. The grains and other commodities such as crude oil took it positively that the dollar was down, but buyer enthusiasm would wane.   Focus stays on the Federal Reserve after central bank officials were recently suggested to have “encouraged” speculators to be short in the corn market. This was a paraphrased view of DTN analyst Todd Hultman by an article on the…