By Keith Brown DTN Cotton Correspondent 

The cotton market ended higher Tuesday in a move counter to Monday’s lower finished. However, Tuesday’s trade was characterized by tight ranges (less than 1.00 cent), small gains (up 0.30 cent or so) and moderate volume. Traders are waiting in part on Tuesday afternoon’s crop harvest data to assess their future market positions. It is expected to show the 2019 harvest is over-the-hump of being 60% gathered.

However, traders are becoming anxious that the U.S-China trade talks may drag into January. As of Tuesday, no official date or place has been announced for the next face-to-face meeting. The original meeting in Chile was cancelled due to Chilean civil unrest. At that time, it was thought the U.S.-China would happen during December. However, with President Trump indicating he will not roll back tariffs to accommodate the Chinese, have some traders doubting if there will ever be a solution.

The market continues to feel underneath support from last Friday’s supply-demand report from USDA. Within that data, the government drastically reduced both U.S. and foreign production, along with lowering the respective carryouts. Even though the U.S. ending stocks number of 6.10 million bales is a 10-year high, optimism for improving prices into 2020 is building.

December cotton settled at 64.74 cents, up 0.45 cent, March ended at 66.50 cents, up 0.42 cent and December finished at 68.70 cents, down 0.03 cent. Tuesday’s estimated volume was 72,881 contracts.