Keith Brown DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst The cotton market attempted to have a recovery rally Wednesday, but only closed slightly higher. Bottom-pickers and shorts covering led the early morning upside charge, but then the buying dried up. Traders were making their adjustments ahead of Thursday's export sales, and Friday's planted acres. Weather-wise, the one- to five-day forecast for West Texas suggests light to moderate rains will be seen. Temperatures will supposedly range from near-normal to above-normal digits. The six- to 10-day outlook calls for above-normal temperatures but above-normal rainfall as well. For Friday's Planted Acres Report, the average industry estimate is 11.12 million acres. For comparison, the March Intentions were 11.256 million, and 2022's plantings totaled some 13.763 million acres. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell talked tough regarding inflation at an economic forum in Portugal Wednesday. He indicated that multiple interest rate increases will aggressively unfold in the coming months. His comments reiterated the position held by the Federal Reserve's board at its June meeting. Additional rate hikes will be, as he said, "data dependent." Spot July remains in its notice period. Wednesday there were no deliveries for the contract. July cotton expires July 7. Wednesday, July cotton settled at 80.12 cents, up 2.48 cents and December ended at 77.36 cents, up 0.30 cent and March was 77.55 cents, 0.25 cent higher. Estimated volume was 26,503 contracts. Keith Brown can be reached at commodityconsults@gmail.com (c) Copyright 2023 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.Source: qualitygin.com
