>Don't know if this'll work but give it a try:
>
>SELECT DISTINCT pricelist.ITEM,pricelist.REPL, pricelist.price, ;
> MAX(pricelist.DATE) AS DATE ;
>FROM price!pricelist ;
>ORDER BY pricelist.DATE DESC ;
>GROUP BY pricelist.ITEM ;
>INTO TABLE temp.DBF

The provides the same results as before. I'm wondering if the set exact or set ansi functions are messing this up.