Back-and-forth trade jawboning between China and the White House weighed on cotton Wednesday. China characterized President Trump’s impending tariffs as “economic blackmail” and threatened to place additional taxes on U.S. goods. However, Mr. Trump suggested he would increase U.S. tariffs on imported Chinese goods from 10% to 25%. Being somewhat caught in such cross-hairs, cotton promptly dropped.

Technically, cotton failed again to cross the all-important 90-cent mark. In midsession trading, December Cotton came within two-ticks of hurdling that psychological barrier, but commercial selling emerging at 90-cents, turned the market lower.

In other news, the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged. In some camps it was expected interest rates would be increased to slow the fast-growing economy, but a plurality of Board Governors obviously saw it differently for now.

Thursday, USDA will report on weekly sales and exports. With the 2017/2018 season now spent, it will be interesting to see whether unfulfilled old crop business will be rolled into the 2018/2019. However, a serious concern also revolves around potential Chinese cancellations.