By Keith Brown DTN Cotton Correspondent 

Cotton had in a very typical holiday trade Wednesday, characterized by low volume and tight ranges. Of course, beside the Thanksgiving holiday, the market spent some “bullish energy” hoping a U.S. China trade deal might have materialize by now. Yet, despite this week’s positive rhetoric from both sides, there seems to be little actual movement on that front.

December cotton remains in its delivery situation. Wednesday there were 40 additional notices tendered. Although every notice issued thus far has originated with a major cotton commercial, all have been stopped by an equal major commercial.

Friday will be an abbreviated day for many financial and agricultural markets, but cotton will trade a full course. To that end, the market will digest Friday’s delayed weekly sales and exports report, which will be released at 8:30 a.m. In recent weeks, U.S. cotton sales have been strong, with even a report two weeks ago showing a marketing-year-high sales number of 345,000 bales. Friday’s exports-sales number will also reflect a time when prices were in the 64.00-cent area. Thus, it is thought foreign buyers did business at those lower levels.

For Wednesday, spot December cotton settled at 64.91 cents, up 0.01 cent, March ended at 65.81 cents, down 0.18 cent and December 2020 closed at 67.63 cents, down 0.16 cent. Wednesday’s estimated volume was 17,763 contracts.