Corteva is an agricultural inputs pure play that was formed in 2019 when it was spun off from DowDuPont. The company is a leader in the development of new seed and crop protection products. Seeds generate the majority of profits with the remainder coming from crop protection products. Corteva plans to spin off its seeds business in late 2026. The seeds business will be named Vylor, while the crop protection business will retain the Corteva name and be a pure-play crop protection company following the divestiture. Corteva operates globally, but around half of revenue comes from North America.

The Fed's favorite inflation indicator, the PCE Price Index (PCE), will be released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) on Thursday. The PCE differs from the better-known Consumer Price Index (CPI) as its composition changes more frequently and is quicker to reflect real-time pricing. In the last report, through March, PCE inflation reportedly increased at a 3.2% rate year over year. By comparison, the latest CPI report, through April, had overall inflation rising 3.8%. Core PCE, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, had risen at an annual rate of 3.2% in the last report. Our PCE forecasts call for slightly higher readings for April: 3.8% for the headline number and 3.3% for the core reading, driven by the fall-out from higher energy prices due to the Iran war. This trend is evident in the Producer Price Index (PPI) report: farther up the value chain, producer prices are rising at accelerated rates even approaching 20%. Expectations are changing as well: the three-year outlook for inflation is now 2.8%, versus 2.3% two months ago. Overall, inflation in this cycle peaked in summer 2022 and, prior to the war, had been on a downward trek. We track 20 inflation measures on a monthly basis. On average, they are indicating that prices are rising at a 4.7% rate year over year, up 110 basis points compared to the month-ago level. Focusing on core inflation -- which we obtain by averaging core CPI, market-based PCE ex-food & energy (from the GDP report), the five-year forward inflation expectation rate, the 10-year TIPs break-even interest rate, and the PCE Price Index -- our reading is 3.0%, up 50 basis points month over month. Given inflation trends, we do not expect the Fed to implement any rate cuts over the next several quarters.

Corteva Inc., the former agricultural business of DowDuPont, has two business segments: Seeds and Crop Protection. The Seeds segment provides advanced germplasm and seeds that help farmers optimize yields. The Crop Protection segment develops and markets herbicides. Corteva has approximately 22,000 employees and operates in approximately 110 countries. The shares are a component of the S&P 500.

The major indices were higher at midday Wednesday, likely benefiting from a retreat in oil prices and interest rates. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite is providing the biggest boost as traders anticipate results from Nvidia (NVDA), the world's largest company by market cap, after the close. Meanwhile, retail earnings are pouring in. Investors will be parsing through minutes from the Fed's recent open market committee meeting to be released at 2pm.