By Keith Brown, DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst 

The cotton market was markedly lower Friday as a falling Dow Jones, along with weaker energies, metals and soybeans, led to depressing attitudes among traders. Even Friday’s improved weekly shipments number did not dissuade the market from declining. Traders are also wary of the U.S.-Russia talks over Ukraine this weekend.

Friday afternoon the CFTC will update various trading groups’ positions. Of course, the managed-money funds have been net long for months on end, but Friday’s data will reflect the end of trading for Tuesday.

For the week, spot March cotton was up 1.03 cents, while for the month and year, it was some 8.15 cents higher.

Next week traders will key on the FOMC (Federal Reserve) policy meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. Also Wednesday, the Fed will announce any changes to its monetary policy. Generally, a majority of traders are anticipating a series of interest rate hikes across 2022. However, some even fear that too many increases could push the U.S. economy into a recession.

Friday, March cotton settled at 120.75 cents, down 2.12 cents, July ended at 115.44 cents, down 1.43 cents and December finished at 98.85 cents, 0.16 cent lower; estimated volume was 30,196 contracts.