Keith Brown DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst    

The cotton market was materially lower Friday, as outside trading was significantly bearish. Crude oil, gold, silver and cotton grains were all down in relation to the Labor Department's surprisingly strong report. Expectations were for 190,000 jobs, but the issue number was 517,000 new jobs.    

From Thursday's export-sales data, we note that cumulative sales for 2022-23 have reached 9.453 million bales, down from 11.991 million a year ago and the lowest since 2015-16. Sales have reached 78% of the USDA forecast for the marketing year versus a five-year average of 83%.    

March Cotton's option expires next Friday, Feb. 10. Right now, it is hard to know what strike level will be key for traders.    

For the week, spot March is off 1.46 cents, and off 0.79 cent on the month, For the year, spot cotton is up 2.16 cents.    

Friday, March 2023 finished at 85.43 cents, down 0.96 cent, July settled at 86.72 cents, down 1.00 cent and December 2023 ended at 85.15 cents, 0.85 cent lower; estimated volume was 45,732 contracts.    

Keith Brown can be reached at commodityconsults@gmail.com 

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