07/31/06 Wheat and cattle futures mixed

Marketline July 31, 2006 Wheat futures closed mixed Friday in quiet trading sessions with Chicago the strongest market. The North Dakota spring wheat crop tour wrapped up with some participants saying conditions were better than expected given the harsh weather in July. Peter Georgantones with Investment Trading Services in Bloomington, Minnesota, remains skeptical . Georgantones: "They are little more optimistic. I have a hard time believing that especially with the weather we have had. So I am not going to make any assumptions. The USDA report comes out about August 10th or 11th, somewhere in there. I'll wait for that. Canada is still pretty dry. I am just looking for some inputs and think wheat is going to bite and hold somewhere in here." On Friday, September Chicago wheat was up ¾ of a cent at 3-88 ½. September corn down a half at 2-37 ¼. Portland cash white wheat steady to a penny higher at mostly 3-86. Club wheat 3-88. HRW 11.5 percent protein down two cents at 5-24. Dark northern spring 14% protein unchanged at 5-61. No Portland barley bids. USDA Friday withdrew its proposal regarding importing Canadian cattle over 30 months of age from the Office of Management and Budget to allow for consideration of the outcome of the investigation into Canada's most recent case of BSE. In the futures Friday, nearby cattle contracts closed lower with deferred contracts higher. News that some cash fed cattle traded Friday at steady prices offered support but lower boxed beef limited gains. Oct live cattle up 30 cents at 88-15. Oct feeders up 15 at 114-08. Sept Class III milk unchanged at 12-17. I'm Bob Hoff and that's Marketline on the Northwest Ag Information Network. Now this.