01/05/06 Wheat and cattle futures mixed

01/05/06 Wheat and cattle futures mixed

Marketline January 5, 2006 Wheat futures recovered from early weakness to close mixed Wednesday with Minneapolis the weakest market Chicago the strongest. Technical selling and profit taking weighed on contracts in early trading. Some traders said they thought there was some long index fund buying occurring. Brian Hoops of Midwest Market Solutions in South Dakota says Egypt issued a tender after yesterday's close. Hoops: "Egypt issued a tender for 55-60-thousand tons of optional origin wheat. They are also seeking 25-60-thousand tons of Russian wheat." Several key winter wheat states issued crop condition reports this week. The average condition for those states, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Illinois, was 52 percent good to excellent which compares to 67 percent at this time last year but it's better than the previous four years. On Wednesday March Chicago wheat was up a quarter cent at 3-46 14. March corn down 1 ¾ at 2-18 ¼. Portland cash white wheat steady to firm at mostly 3-50. Club wheat 3-98. PNW HRW 11.5 percent protein unchanged at 4-66. Dark northern spring 14% protein lower at 5-20. Export barley 101 dollars a ton. Cattle futures were mixed Wednesday amid active spreading as positions moved from nearby months into deferred contracts. Expectations are for a soft tone in the cash market this week but funds refused to sell. Feb live cattle up a dime at 96-47. March feeders down 28 at 113-72. Feb Class III milk up eight cents at 13-25. I'm Bob Hoff and that's Marketline on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
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