Sean Pledger

This week my decision to trade corn futures was based on a trend in the data. In all likelihood next week’s trades will be mostly based on raw price data as well, but that’s not to say I’ve had my head in the sand. Bryce Knorr from Farm Futures publishes a comment or two daily on corn, wheat and soybean markets. These articles have been very interesting to follow as I actively watch the price of corn rise and fall. He indicates the vast number of metrics that influence the price; everything from weather and politics in Europe to water levels and waiting times at locks in the United States to policies and economics in Asia to weather in Australia. He seems to capture any news that might cause a blip in the market prices. During the next week I will attempt to follow in more detail some of these specific issues, particularly any which appear to have caused price shocks previously. I will also begin taking advantage of the news and research identified by my classmates in this week’s blog postings.