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Jacob Shapiro

19 posts

Global Macro Adviser - The Strategic Funds
Jacob L. Shapiro is a geopolitical analyst with over 10 years of experience providing clients with the context, foresight, and extensive analysis they need to solve for the unknown and enhance their understanding of global and regional affairs. He is the founder and chief strategist of Perch Perspectives, a human-centric business and political consulting firm that applies geopolitical expertise to business strategy for Fortune 500 companies and governments. Formerly, he was the director of analysis at Geopolitical Futures and a Middle East analyst at the global intelligence firm Stratfor. A loyal student of history and geography, Jacob wields both in order to empower his clients to make accurate, informed decisions and gain a more holistic view of the events and issues that impact them. Jacob always maintains a distinctly global focus in his work, but he also has extensive experience tackling problems in supply chain, agriculture, technology, and energy markets.

4 min

Corn Prices Will Remain High

While wheat prices have garnered significant attention since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, corn has arguably been the agricultural commodity most affected by the war. In 2021, Ukraine was the third-largest corn exporter in the world, accounting for 11.4 percent of global exports.

5 min

Is Mining the Next Shale?

Before there were Saudis – there were Texans. In 1948, U.S. oil production and reserves accounted for 64 percent and 34 percent of the global total. Texas was the largest U.S. producer by far, accounting for 45 percent of total U.S. production.

6 min

Let’s Talk About Gold

Gold will always have a seat at that table, not because it is a commodity, but because it has an indefinable characteristic that has made humans value it for millennia – and hopefully for millennia more to come.

7 min

The Future of Platinum-Group Elements after Russia’s War in Ukraine

It is common knowledge that Russia is a major exporter of oil and natural gas. Just the fear of disruption of Russian energy exports has sent oil and natural gas markets into a tizzy. Russia, however, is not just a Slavic Saudi Arabia.

4 min

Commodity & Infrastructure Insights

The Cotton is High – Literally

The last time cotton prices were this high was 2011 – when futures breached a previously unthinkable $2 a pound. That is the highest cotton prices have ever gone on record – even above the price that cotton reached during the American Civil War. But just because cotton isn't setting records doesn't make its sudden and unexpected price surge unremarkable.

5 min

Get Ready for Coal in Your Stocking This Year

One of our fundamental theses for the decade ahead is that the world is at the outset of a massive energy transition away from fossil fuels in favor of renewables. That is the reason we focus on commodities like copper and nickel, both of which are widely used metals for which demand will increase due to their import to renewable energy technologies.

6 min

Why Iron Ore Prices Mean More Than You Think

If you were a commodities-focused investor and had success over the last decade, iron probably had something to do with your performance. Indeed, according to this chart from S&P Global Platts below, iron ore futures "drastically" outperformed most other metals and mining equities since 2015.

4 min

Wheat Prices Critical for 2022

Since launching our ambitious series on commodities, we have spent a significant amount of time on energy. That's with good reason: according to the latest reading of the U.S. Consumer Price Index that has markets jittery and the Federal Reserve dreaming of interest rates, energy prices are up 33 percent, compared to 6.8 percent for all goods. But if energy prices have spiked suddenly, hiding in plain sight of the global inflation story are food prices, which have steadily increased since May 2020, when pandemic-related economic shutdowns started impacting agricultural supply chains.

6 min

A Hydrogen-Powered Paradigm Shift

Today, hydrogen is largely used for industrial purposes, either in oil refining or the production of ammonia fertilizers. (If you didn't read our missive on fertilizers, click here). But hydrogen has a lot more potential than that. Hydrogen can also be used as a fuel. It can be transported via pipelines or ships, just like liquified natural gas.

8 min

Data is the Revolution

To understand the importance of data, and how to express that importance in terms of investments, let's start with something that is simultaneously simpler and more complex: A map. This is just not any old map, however. The image below shows the plumbing of the modern economy – the underseas cables that create the digital environment that allow you, dear reader, to consume this content wherever in the world you are sitting.

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