05/12/06 Outside markets versus crop report

Marketline May 12, 2006 Grain traders will get some fundamentals this morning with a winter wheat production estimate and old and new crop supply and demand forecasts from USDA. Thursday however, wheat futures posted strong gains, which Marc Chiodo of Slipka Commodities at the Minneapolis Grain Exchange attributed to the influence of outside markets. Chiodo: "Crude oil up dramatically, a buck twenty and nobody is even shooting at each other. Gold and silver, gold was up 20, silver was up 60-70 cents. People are looking for fundamental reasons and really that is the why of it. We are being fund driven at the moment and we are sitting at fairly significant technical levels or contract highs and it looks like we are going to punch through it no matter what the report says." On Thursday July Chicago wheat was up 7 ½ cents at 3-92. July corn up seven at 2-47. Portland cash white wheat steady to a penny higher at mostly 3-77. August new crop unchanged to lower at 3-86. Club wheat 3-87. HRW 11.5 percent protein as much as a dime higher at 5-25. Dark northern spring 14% protein higher at 5-73. No Portland barley bids. Strong boxed beef movement and optimism the southern Plains cash fed trade will be fully steady provided support for cattle futures to close higher Thursday. There was some short covering on reports U.S. officials will be going to Japan next week for talks on beef. June live cattle up 135 at 76-45. Aug feeders up 178 at 105-70. June Class III milk up three cents at 10-85. I'm Bob Hoff and that's Marketline on the Northwest Ag Information Network. Now this.