Sharp losses in wheat futures; cattle mixed

Market Line April 20, 2010 Wheat futures saw losses in the 17 to 20 cent plus range Monday. Lynn Smith of the Zaner Group at the Chicago Board of Trade says it was just a down and dirty day in the grains.

Smith: “The catalyst that really got this thing going was the U.S. dollar was stronger again. We had a sell off in crude oil, down two bucks. And corn really was getting hit early. The excellent planting weather I think hurt corn and of course when corn went down it caused spillover pressure in the wheat market. Plus the fundamentals are still weak in the wheat market.”

On Monday Chicago May wheat was down 22 ¾ cents at 4-67 ¾. May corn down 16 ¼ cents at 3-47 ¾. Portland soft white wheat down a nickel at mostly 4-73. New crop August soft white steady to seven cents lower at 4-73 to 4-80. Club wheat premium $2.75. HRW 11.5 % protein down 24 cents at mostly 5-25. DNS 14% protein down 19 cents at 6-69. No Portland barley bids.

Live cattle futures were lower Monday on profit taking. Traders said there was also pressure on June cattle from expectations of increased supply. The sharp drop in corn futures helped feeder contracts close higher. June live cattle down 15 cents at 94-50. May feeders up 37 at 113-05. May Class III milk up three cents at 13-12. USDA reported March milk production in the major states was up nine-tenths of a percent from March of 2009.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Market Line on Northwest Aginfo Net.

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