Inflation Signals

Inflation Signals

From The Commodity Kitchen with David Maloni by David

January 28, 2026 · 6 min · Season 1 · Episode 8

About this episode

David reviews changes in major commodity markets and discusses inflation signals.

In this episode, I review what’s changing across major commodity markets. Even though the Datum FS Commodity Index is still trading near two-year lows, I’m starting to see inflation creep back into several areas. I call out crude oil moving higher, the dollar being higher (not ideal for commodities), and grain markets staying generally rangebound. The clearest standout on the ag side is soybean oil, which I note is up 20% year over year and at a five-month high this week, with biodiesel demand as a major driver. I also run through proteins and dairy. In dairy, I mention cheese blocks higher, barrels kind of flat, and butter sharply higher—while also noting cheese and butter are still down materially year over year. On proteins, I cover table eggs jumping $0.27/dozen this week, chicken markets firming (breasts and wings at multi-week highs), pork output up year over year with a cutout that’s been sideways but down month over month, and beef output down year over year with choice and select cutouts higher versus last year. I flag chicken breasts as moving through key technical resistance levels, and I close with consumer sentiment improving per the University of Michigan reading…

People in this episode

Host: David

Topics covered

  • commodity markets
  • inflation
  • agriculture
  • oil prices
  • grain markets

Keywords

  • inflation
  • commodity index
  • crude oil
  • soybean oil
  • grain markets

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Datum FS Commodity Index

Products: crude oil, dollar, grain markets, soybean oil

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