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Futures File

CPI offers small victory in stability Monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) numbers were released Wednesday. April CPI rose 0.3% below estimates of 0.4% with annual CPI at 3.4%, down from 3.5% last month. Core CPI (all items less food and energy) rose the same 0.3% last month, bringing the annual Core CPI to 3.6%, down from 3.8% last month. Tracking inflation and interest rates is a turtle race most of the time that is best to let run for months on end before worrying about the leaderboard. Since May of last year, annual CPI has ranged from 3% to 4%. The good news is seeing stability ...

Building Permits

April Building Permits — Four Seasons Construction, 2405 23rd Ave. NW and 2301 Ivory St., single family houses with attached garages, each $153,537; 2305, 2317, 2313 and 2309 Ivory St., single family houses with attached garages, each $171,000; 2401, 2413 and 2420 Ivory St., single family houses with attached garages, each $155,697; 2401 23rd Ave NW and 2405 and 2409 Ivory St., single family houses with attached garages, each $154,791; 2417 and 2421 Ivory St., single family houses with attached garages, $154,792; 2501 Ivory St., single family house with attached garage, ...

Futures File: Weather or not: Wheat rallies

Wheat futures have rallied more than $1/bushel in the last month – a nearly 20% increase in total contract value. Depressed prices from December through March left room for a positive bounce should something bullish begin to percolate. Drought-stricken wheat country in the western plains was a big reason for the rally early on, but there have been rains touching down in some key spots over the last three weeks. The rains were not all-encompassing but enough to put a lid on a rally based on domestic weather, which seemed to be the case. However, fresh weather news from outside the ...

March Real Estate Transactions

Ward County — 3100 11th Ave. SE, Lot B7, 1972 manufactured home, Tiffany Brewer to Jimmy and Wendy Hendrickson, $1,500. — 3100 11th Ave. SE, Lot E18, 1983 manufactured home, Jonathan Frank to Joshua Garozzo, $12,500. — 2900 Valley Street, Lot 77, manufactured home, Chasity Overholt to Dalton Austin-Beeter, $14,000. Minot — 715 22nd Ave. NW, 1963 one-story house, Nancy Hodge to Blake Meyer, deeded price $188,000. — 1013 6th St. SW, 1949 one-story house, Mountain Prime 2008 to Kevin and Jennifer Winn, deeded price $173,500. — 1211 1st St, SW, 1915 two-story house, ...

Futures File

Mayday: This is cocoa, we’re going down The mystery knock on cocoa’s door this past week did not leave a bouquet of flowers or candy. Cocoa prices have plummeted nearly 30% in just two weeks, topping out at almost $12,000 per ton back on April 19 for the most-active contract and falling to a low this past week of $6,990 per ton before recovering Friday morning. A 40% drop from the all-time high to the most recent low. The runup in prices attributed to the extreme drought and heat in the cocoa-producing West African nations, especially Ghana and the Ivory Coast, are the fundamental ...

City of Minot March building permits

– Gary Belgarde, Belgarde Concrete, 1926, 35th St. NW, single family home with attached garage, $170,000. – Ivi Carvalho, Belgarde Concrete, 2827 10th St. NW, single family residence, $177,000. – City of Minot, Craft Builders, 1025 31st St. SE, reframe office to enlarge existing office. – North Star Community Credit Union, Wild CRG, Ltd., 2150 15th St. NW, 15,217-square-foot, two-story bank, $5.8 million. – H & K Properties, Hieb Construction, 2080 36th Ave. SW, remodel, partition walls, $2.6 million. – Star Rentals, Trillium Development, 523 30th St. NW, cell tower ...