By Keith Brown, DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst 

The cotton market was markedly higher Wednesday as renewed trade talks between the U.S. and China cranked up Tuesday night. It’s worth noting that President Trump’s “phase-one deal” expires this December.

In addition, some traders have growing concerns about the lateness of the crop, and are beginning to worry about late-season weather adversities. Lastly, Thursday, USDA will issue its weekly export sales. Last week saw dynamic sales in combined seasons of 455,000 bales, with China as the main buyer with 322,000 bales.

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic analysis will issue third quarter GDP results Thursday. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) measures the annualized change in the inflation-adjusted value of all goods and services produced by the economy.

It is the broadest measure of economic activity and the primary indicator of the economy’s health. Thus far for 2021, Q1 showed growth of 6.8%, Q2 was 6.5%, but estimates for Thursday’s estimate calls for 2.8% growth pace.

The U.S. dollar continues to peddle sideways. The greenback is anticipating what action the Federal Reserve will do concerning tapering in November. “Tapering” refers to the central bank pulling back on stimulus. Some traders believe the act of tapering is tantamount to the actual increase of interest rates. Such action would be considered dollar positive and commodities negative.

For Wednesday, December settled at 110.52 cents, up 1.81 cents, March ended at 108.64 cents, plus 1.77 cents and December 2022 ended at 90.62 cents, 0.80 cent higher; estimated volume was 34,062 contracts.