1500 EST [Dow Jones]--Cotton futures prices on the ICE Futures U.S. exchange
for December delivery settled down 2.8% or 4.03 cents, just up from their limit
down of 5 cents, at $1.4018 a pound Friday in the commodities rout based on
growing fears China is about to raise its interest rates to cool its rapidly
heating economy. The March futures contract, however, settled "limit down," off
3.6% at $1.3418 a pound. "We think the current volatility is about what should
be expected at current prices, especially when hedge funds are moving from
December futures into March futures," wrote John Flanagan, president of
Flanagan Trading Corp. in Fuquay-Varina, N.C.