The cotton market survived early weakness to finish slightly lower Tuesday. Volume was a fraught 15,000 contracts. The market is gearing up Thursday’s USDA reports. First, it will issue its weekly export sales report, followed by the December supply and demand report. Traders expect to see supportive numbers in both reports.

The market also continues to monitor the weakness in the U.S. dollar. The greenback has been in a decidedly lower trend as fears of zero interest rates and additional government stimulus make it less desirable to own. However, the head of Goldman Sachs commodities research indicated in an article that a weaker dollar would be the basis for a major advance in all commodity markets over the next few years.

December cotton expired at 70.18 cents on its final day of trading. Its life-of-contract range spanned from the July 2018 high of 80.02 cents, down to the April 2020 low of 50.41 cents. Its settlement might pose a small problem for certain chart traders who will be aware of the switch-of-contract gap newly created. That is, there will be a “gap” on the daily continuation between the close of spot December and the settlement of front-leader March. Some traders feel such gaps are often filled over.

For Tuesday, March cotton closed at 71.98 cents, down 0.40 cent, July settled at 73.62 cents, down 0.40 cent and December 2021 ended at 71.02 cents, down 0.45 cent. Estimated volume was 15,217 contracts.