By Keith Brown, DTN Cotton Correspondent 

The cotton market had yet another mixed closed session, as some contract months ended higher, while some finished lower. Such action reflects market in stagnation and certainly without direction.

Of course, outside markets such as the Dow Jones play a critical role in providing guidance, but given it was 550 points higher Tuesday, but down 600 points lower Wednesday, thus there is little positive outside influence to be had.

Thursday, USDA will issue its weekly export sales and certainly no net negative sales are needed. Last week, China canceled enough previously bought cotton to result in a net negative report, so the psychological of experiencing another such bearish report would not bode well.

Wednesday’s retail sales number painted a gloomy picture for the U.S. economy. Sales was a net negative 8.7%, the lowest since records have been kept since 1992.

May cotton settled at 52.75 cents, up 0.24 cent, July ended at 52.80 cents, down 0.38 cent and December finished 56.16 cents, down 0.25 cent. Estimated volume was 42,374 contracts.