Keith Brown DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst    

The cotton market traded both sides of Thursday's close on Monday, as overhead producer selling kept any serious upside rally in check. It has been noted for some time that, despite last season's high of $1.33, many growers failed to price a large portion of their 2022 crop. Now those farmers are "holding and hoping," and feeling the pressure of time.    

Monday afternoon. the weekly crop progress will be published. Last week saw the 2023 crop at 4% planted versus a five-year average of 5% complete.    

Tuesday, USDA will issue its April WASDE. Expectations call for little change to the data from last month. The government will make a yield estimate on its May supply-demand data.    

Later this week, there will be two big economic reports released. The CPI will be issued on Wednesday, followed by the PPI on Thursday. Both of these reports will update the pace of inflation across the U.S. economy.    

Some traders are nervous over the potential fallout of the meeting between Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy and the president of Taiwan last week. Already China is unfolding some heavy-duty "saber-rattling" and is threatening other retaliatory measures against the U.S.    

Options on spot May futures expire this Friday on the close.    Monday, May 2023 finished at 82.45 cents, down 0.75 cent, July settled at 82.73 cents, down 0.74 cent and December 2023, ended at 82.63 cents, 0.61 cent lower. Estimated volume was 46,953 contracts.        

Keith Brown can be reached at commodityconsults@gmail.com

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