By Keith Brown, DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst 

After a strong Sunday night surge, the cotton market only managed to settle slightly up Monday. The market was aware of overnight Chinese buying, but also knew the global shipping crisis continues to hamper the global economy. Thus, future exports may continue to be lax. Traders also heard comments from President Xi at the UN that indirectly lambasted the United States.

Monday afternoon USDA will update the harvest progress. Of course, with harvest, weather is dramatically crucial. Currently, the immediate forecast has Texas with dry conditions, but indicates cooler and wetter conditions for the Delta and the Southeast.

On Thursday, USDA will issue its weekly export sales. Of late, lagging sales have been doing a better job of playing catchup. However, on Thursday the Commerce Department will report third quarter GDP numbers. Currently, analysts suggest Q3 levels will be off. The Q2 pace of 6.7% growth, slightly higher than Q1’s 6.3%. However, the anticipated growth rate for Q3 is 2.8%.

For Monday, December settled at 108.54 cents, up 0.28 cent, March ended at 106.56 cents, plus 0.37 cent and December 2022 ended at 89.76 cents, 0.49 cent higher; estimated volume was 21,063 contracts.