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Ontario Liberals Throw another $100M at Horse Racing

The Ontario Liberals are giving more money to appease the province’s horse-racing industry.

Premier Kathleen Wynne will announce Monday that she plans to increase support to the horse-racing sector to $500 million over five years, that’s up from $400 million that she announced in October. The funding is subject to review in 2017.

The additional funding is aimed supporting jobs in the horse racing industry.

With the chance of a spring election looming, the minority Liberal Wynne-led government is trying to fix the mistakes of the past, controversial decisions that were made by Wynne’s predecessor, Dalton McGuinty.

McGuinty announced the end of the Slots at Racetracks program in 2012. The partnership agreement gave the province’s 17 race tracks gambling revenue from 1998 to 2012. The program helped keep the industry in business, especially as interest in the sport has been dwindling over the years.

The industry says horse racing directly and indirectly employs approximately 60,000 people in the province.
 


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Funds Ditch Ag Commodities, Chase Stocks Amid an End to Middle East War, & Trade Deal Buzz

Video: Funds Ditch Ag Commodities, Chase Stocks Amid an End to Middle East War, & Trade Deal Buzz


The 12-day war between Iran-Israel came to an end sending crude oil futures plunging as the big fund speculators removed the war risk premium.

The weather risk premium in the Ag complex is sending corn, wheat and soybean futures lower on month-end selling ahead of the market moving USDA quarterly grain stocks and acreage reports on June 30th.

Instead, funds were chasing and sending tech stocks higher with the S&P 500/NASDAQ indexes setting new all-time record highs!

June 1 USDA Hogs and pigs report was slightly bearish while the U.S. $ Index traded to new contract lows as the de-dollarization that began in 2014 continues.

Feed in the form of soybean meal futures for livestock producers got cheaper, trading to new contract lows.

The Stats Canada seeded acreage update was bullish canola and wheat.