🇺🇸 🇩🇪 10-Year American-German Government Bond Spread

This spread is narrowing again; it's down to 127 basis points mostly on the 10Y bund yield, which has risen to range highs.

🔣 I N T E L R U N N E R 🔣

🌐 We're not done yet in precious metals this year. Today:

Gold is up 1.27%. Silver is up another 9.87%. Platinum is up 10.34%.

And palladium (did someone say palladium?) is up 13.07%

Technically platinum is still up on silver YTD by about one percent. This was the signal in the silver & platinum leasing in July.

Both are outrunning the daily Bollingers now.

🥇 I N T E L R U N N E R 🥇

🌍 The futures price for rough rice has fallen to multi-decade support on strong U.S. inventories and quality issues abroad.

Something will have to give. $10/cwt is a tough price for producers who generally require $11-13 to break even.

High-quality U.S. growers (those who haven't suffered excess breakage from weather patterns of late) are still commanding a premium for their long-grain from Japan, Latin America, and the Caribbean as there are serious problems with other global supplies.

Prices for Vietnamese fragrant rice & Cambodian paddies have plummeted, including over quality concerns. Vietnamese exports were banned in the Philippines and Cambodian mills are struggling with basic benchmarks.

In India, the large market has struggled with insane levels of pesticide residues (Tricyclazole) and moisture control. African rice has been suffering from elevated levels of lead, arsenic, and cadmium.

Across South Asia, governments engage in intensive subsidy & support programs for their rice industries, which does put pressure on growers with fewer protections elsewhere, like the United States, but also likely contributes to the ongoing crisis in quality.

🍚 I N T E L R U N N E R 🍚