Keith Brown DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst    

After posting new lows for the move, cotton reversed to finish materially higher Wednesday. In conjunction with its rise was a steep decline in the U.S. dollar and a strong surge in the Dow Jones. Equity markets rallied based on the Bank of England's intervention to stabilize the British Pound.    

The National Hurricane Center reported that Ian will soon make a devastating landfall in southwest Florida on Wednesday. Over the next few days, it will take a winding path up the Florida Peninsula, eventually targeting the mid-Atlantic States. Ultimately, there could be damage to east Georgia and Carolinas' cotton crop. Those three states have about two-thirds of their respective crops with "bolls open".    

Thursday, USDA will issue its weekly export-sales report. Last week's number was some 30,000 bales sold. Word on the street is that the sales will be higher than last week's, given cotton lower prices.    

Crude oil was sharply higher Wednesday following unexpected drawdowns in domestic crude and fuel stocks. The surprise data outweighed the continued strength in the U.S. dollar. Crude stocks fell by 215,000 barrels, while gasoline inventories declined by 2.4 million barrels and distillate inventories by 2.9 million barrels. On Oct. 5, OPEC+ will meet to decide the cartel's next price move.    

For Wednesday, December closed at 88.49 cents, up 0.40 cent, March 2023 finished at 85.85 cents, up 0.46 cent and July 2023 settled at 81.99 cents, 0.71 cent higher; estimated volume was 36,739 contracts.    

Keith Brown can be reached at commodityconsults@gmail.com 

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