Wheat futures biding time

Market Line July 20, 2009 Wheat futures were higher Friday with analysts saying traders didn’t want to go into the weekend short. Otherwise, Louise Gartner for the Linn Group at the Chicago Board of Trade sees the wheat market sort of treading water here.

Gartner: “A fairly wide, choppy trading range. It looks like the market is trying to kill some time before it comes back down retests these lows.”

Scattered showers could cause harvest delays in the Plains early this week. In South Dakota harvest reports indicate very high protein in the winter wheat.

On Friday Chicago September wheat was up 8 ½ cents at 5-41 ¾. September corn up 5 ½ at 3-22 ¼. Portland soft white wheat steady to a nickel lower but mostly 5-40. Club wheat mostly 6-28. August new crop soft white 5-42 to 5-50. HRW 11.5 % protein five to seven cents higher at 6-08. DNS 14% protein one to four cents higher at 7-11. No Portland barley bids.

Cattle futures closed higher Friday on light fund buying. The cash fed trade finally occurred after the futures closed at 84 dollars, which was two to three higher than the previous week. Traders will be looking ahead to Friday’s Cattle on Feed report which some think could show lower placements again. August live cattle up 77 cents at 86-37. August feeders up 70 at 104-60. August Class III milk down a penny at 10-52. USDA reported that June milk production was a tenth of a percent less than in 2008.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Market Line on the Northwest Ag Information Network.

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