Keith Brown DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst    

The cotton market was sharply higher Wednesday amid rumors of a strong export-sales number that may be released Thursday. Additionally, there was "hopeful rhetoric" coming from both sides concerning the debt talks in Washington.    

Technically, the market, to some degree, is challenging the top side of its long-standing congestion pattern. Essentially, prices have been trading sideways for several months as China has been slow to emerge from its COVID situation and uncharacteristic farmer holding of the 2022 crop.    

As mentioned, USDA will issue its weekly export sales Thursday. Traders want to see strong participation from China in both sales and shipments.    

Crude oil was higher Thursday, despite a sizable build in the weekly inventory numbers. To that end, the IEA (International Energy Agency) predicted that demand would outpace supply by 2 million barrels per day (bpd) in the second half of the year, with China making up 60% of oil demand growth in 2023.    

The one- to five-day forecast suggests drier conditions than those of last week. Nonetheless, the six- to 10- and eight- to 14-day outlooks still carry above-normal chances of precipitation. Traders will be weighing the results of Thursday's latest update on the U.S. Drought Monitor.    

Wednesday, July settled at 86.94 cents, up 3.56 cents and December 2023 ended at 83.89 cents, 1.39 cents higher. Estimated volume was 71,045 contracts.    

Keith Brown can be reached at commodityconsults@gmail.com 

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