The cotton market closed higher Wednesday as Tropical Storm Dorian will soon attain hurricane status and possibly head for central Florida. A northward wobble would put Dorian on track to hit the Jacksonville, Florida, area and right above that, the east Georgia cotton crop. Of course, there is time for the storm to bend upward and threaten the South Carolina/ North Caroline crops as well. With much of the southern crop setting bolls, heavy rains and strong winds would certainly put a lot of cotton on the ground.

Thursday, USDA will publish its weekly sales and exports data. Although cumulative sales are running ahead of last year, remember a sale can be cancelled while shipped cotton is gone. We have always felt actual, tangible shipments were a better measurement of cotton’s health than a bunch of early season sales.

Friday represents the end of the month, plus a long three-day holiday for Labor Day. Typically, some speculators square up their positions ahead of a long stretch to see if a trend change occurs the following week. That is, a market has been known to change paths after a major holiday.

Wednesday, December cotton settled at 58.73 cents, up 0.81 cent, March closed at 59.42 cents, up 0.69 cent and December 2020 finished at 62.04 cents, up 0.28 cent. Overnight estimated volume was 19,100 contracts.