Keith Brown DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst    

The cotton market spent much of Wednesday's session trading in a very tight range. Traders were eyeing the Dow and the U.S. dollar for directional clues, but both of those markets were deadly quiet. Most markets are recovering from Tuesday's massive financial and commodities melt, as an unexpected bearish inflation number Tuesday sent the majority of markets sharply lower.    

Supposedly, USDA will issue long-absent weekly export-sales Thursday morning. There is talk that cotton sales may bump 1 million bales. In addition, the Commerce Department will report on month-over-month retail sales, also Thursday morning. Naturally, cotton traders will be assessing the apparel sales data. Expectations call for sales to be .2% up from the flat number seen in August.    

The possibility of a national rail strike looms large. The deadline to avoid a strike is midnight Friday. With that some rail-lines have already started diverting freight. A strike could cost the U.S. economy more than $2 billion a day.    

Weather-wise the six- to 10-day outlook has normal rain for Texas, but shifts to below-normal for the Delta and the Southeast. Temperatures look to be above normal for much of the Cotton Belt.    

For Wednesday, December closed at 102.64 cents, up 0.32 cent, March 2023 finished at 99.58 cents, up 0.57 cent, and July 2023 settled at 94.56 cents, 0.56 cent higher; estimated volume was 17,138 contracts.    

Keith Brown can be reached at commodityconsults@gmail.com 

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