05/16/08 Other commodities impact wheat futures

Market Line May 16, 2008 Wheat futures closed mostly higher Thursday in a volatile session that saw grains up and down during the day. Peter Georgantones of Investment Trading in Bloomington, Minnesota says crude oil was a factor. Georgantones: "Commodity sector in general is taking its cue off the crude oil and that was up real strong early on and then sold off $5.50 off of its highs and then all the other markets kind of caved in." But wheat did come back except for July at Minneapolis, which was sharply lower. Weekly export sales for wheat came in at the high end of expectations. The Baltic Exchange's major index for ocean freight hit a new all-time high, which traders say could be negative for U.S. wheat in north Africa. On Thursday Chicago July wheat was up 7 ½ cents at 7-71 ½. July corn up 2 ¾ at 5-99. Portland August new crop soft white wheat down a nickel at 7-90 to $8. August HRW 11.5 % protein nine to 12 cents higher at 8-99. August DNS 14% protein up nine cents at 9-87. Barley at the coast 198 dollars a ton. Continued caution about the cash market and nervousness ahead of today's Cattle on Feed Report were cited as factors in lower live cattle futures Thursday. Feeders were higher with lower corn a factor. June live cattle down 27 cents at 94-35. August feeders up 52 at 113-27. June Class III milk down 16 cents at 19-67. USDA reported Thursday that May 1st potato stocks compared to a year ago were up 12 percent in Idaho, up 33 percent in Oregon and up 79 percent in Washington. I'm Bob Hoff and that's Market Line on the Northwest Ag Information Network. Now this.