Keith Brown DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst    

The cotton maker was materially higher Tuesday on less-hawkish talk from the Fed Chairman in his speech to an economic think-tank in Washington. Jerome Powell said that "inflation is beginning to ease though it is to be a long process." With that, the U.S. dollar fell and the Dow Jones rallied.    

For Wednesday's next WASDE report for USDA, traders are looking for U.S. 2022-23 production to be at 14.56 million bales. This would be less than last month, when tabulators pegged the crop at 14.68 million bales. Ending stocks are expected to come in at 4.08 million bales, down from 4.20 million in January. While world ending stocks are expected to come in at 90.06 million bales, slightly up from 89.93 million reported in January.    

On Thursday, USDA will issue its latest weekly export sales. Last week saw sales of 171,000 bales, with China the dominant buyer. Shipments were slightly off but still a decent 212,000 bales were exported. A reminder that options for the March contract expire this Friday.    

Tuesday, March 2023 finished at 85.63 cents, plus 2.36 cents, July settled at 87.06 cents, up 2.21 cents and December 2023 ended at 85.82 cents, 2.09 cents higher; estimated volume was 90,913, the largest since Nov. 15, 2022.    

Keith Brown can be reached at commodityconsults@gmail.com 

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