Spot March cotton settled about 0.40 cent lower on the day, down 0.03 cent for the week. This week’s trading was basically directionless, but also volatile. Trading from Monday through Thursday saw market swings of 1.00 cent. The market remains held hostage by the continued trade war with China, and the soon-to-be four-week-old shutdown of the U.S. government.
To the former, there are new trade talks scheduled with China on January 22, and hopefully both countries will come to terms. To the latter situation, President Trump is now being urged to declare a national crisis, have the military build the wall, and then sign the Democratic spending bills. So, as any news anchor might say, “stay tuned.”
Friday morning U.S. consumer prices fell for the first time in nine months, the result of a big drop in gasoline prices. However, underlying inflation pressure remains and is in the range the of the Federal Reserve’s target of 2%. The U.S. Dollar was trading 10 points higher on the day.
Next week should bring continued choppy trading as long as the government shutdown lives.
March cotton settled at 72.49 cents, down 0.36 cent, July finished at 75.27 cents, down 0.40 cent and December cotton closed at 73.64 cents, down 0.47 cent. Friday’s estimated volume was 29,200 contracts traded.
