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Futures File: Interest rate cut parties postponed

The March Consumer Price Index (CPI) report covering the month of February was released this week. Core CPI was up 0.4% month on month (MoM) and 3.8% year on year (YoY). That is an increase from the 0.3% shown for the month of January. Predicting when the FED will pivot and start lowering interest rates has been the meat and potatoes of financial news talk for the last six months as the Federal Funds Effective Rate was raised to 5.33% back in September of 2023 and has remained there ever since. Early predictors of FED cuts were thrown a bone in December when FED Chairman Jerome ...

Owner says Popeye’s in Minot is just the beginning

The location for the freshest face in fast food in Minot was bustling with activity on Tuesday as the owners and team members busied themselves to open the doors of Popeye’s to the hungry masses of the Magic City on Monday, March 18. The announcement of the cajun chicken chain’s arrival ...

Futures File: Commodities boom in recent weeks

It has been a strong two weeks-two months for most commodity futures that are actively traded. Gold led the precious metal band higher this week, making new all-time highs and closing above $2150/ounce on Wednesday for the first time ever. The soft commodities including cocoa, cotton, sugar, coffee and OJ are not in perfect unison, but by and large are either trading near historical highs or have at least had a positive week. Stock Indices continue to thrive with the S&P setting new all-time highs above 5150 this week and the Dow Jones resting near its all-time highs around the ...

Local bank donates $7,500 to support Project BEE winter shelter

First International Bank & Trust (FIBT) donated $7,500 to Project BEE from the Minot Employee Fund, which is a fund that employees contribute to each month through voluntary payroll deductions. The donation will be directed toward Project BEE’s goal of keeping its Winter Warming Center open ...

FUTURES FILE: No fear for record fund grain shorts

The commitment of Traders report from Friday, Feb. 23, revealed that managed money was short 340,732 contracts of corn. This was a new record short position for the funds passing the old record of 322,215 contracts set back in late April of 2019. The following Monday the corn market made new lows and reversed higher falling just short of closing above the previous trading day’s highs. Monday’s move higher also consisted of a steep decline in open interest, generally meaning that more short positions were exiting than new longs were being added, i.e. short covering from the fund ...

Local bank gives back to community

The Minot Gate City Bank team collected more than 300 items and delivered them personally to Men’s Winter Refuge for the Gate City Bank multi-community food drive, which spanned across all of Gate City’s 45 locations. “When Gate City Bank told us we were going to do this food drive in ...