02/20/06 A market holiday

Marketline February 20, 2006 Futures exchanges are closed in recognition of Presidents' Day today. Wheat futures were sharply higher Friday with new crop contracts setting new highs. Christopher Modoff of R. J. O'Brian at the Chicago Board of Trade says the funds were buyers going into the long weekend. Modoff: "Continuing concerns about cold weather over the weekend and as well as some rumors that Iraq would be back in taking U.S. wheat. That was earlier in the week they said they wouldn't take U.S. They broke the market and then we put premium back in the market when it looks like the Iraqis will be taking some U.S. wheat." The market is focused on the cold in the hard red winter wheat belt but some growers in eastern Washington have expressed concern about winterkill too from the recent artic cold and wind. On Friday March Chicago wheat was up nine cents at 3-68. March corn up three at 2-26 ½. Portland cash white wheat up three to four cents at mostly 3-58. August new crop higher at 3-68 to 3-76. Club wheat 4-03. HRW 11.5 percent protein higher at 4-81. Dark northern spring 14% protein higher at 5-31. No barley bids. Cattle futures continued to suffer from the standoff between packers and feedlots Friday and contracts closed lower. April live cattle down 90 cents at 87-70. March feeders down 102 at 107-33. March Class III milk down 35 cents at 11-12. That was ahead of the USDA reporting January milk production in the major producing states was up 5.4% from January of 2005. Production in Idaho was up 10.3 percent, down 2.7% in Oregon and unchanged from last January in Washington. I'm Bob Hoff and that's Marketline on the Northwest Ag Information Network. Now this.