The cotton market was higher Wednesday on essentially end-of-the-month squaring. It’s no secret the speculators have been pounding the market like a hammer on a nail for much of the month of July. In fact, the last two days saw net-negative closings, so for the market to end slightly higher Wednesday is certainly permissible.

Thursday, is August 1, and thus a new trading month can either continue the current dismal, bearish trend, or find a way to do about face on the trend. To that end, it would take a trade deal with China, a reduction in the 22-million-bale U.S. crop and the record net-short speculators to suddenly decide to cover their positions, none of which is likely.

Thursday, USDA will issue its latest sales and exports data. Of course, of late those reports have been a reflection of the tariff war as China has been essentially a non-participant. Along those lines, the Federal Reserve did cut rates a quarter point Wednesday as expected. The U.S. dollar actually traded higher, while the Dow Jones traded lower by the action.

The National Hurricane Center has noted a couple of disturbances out in the Atlantic. As of now, neither has developed into any sort of organized storm, but as always such weather potentialities bears watching.

December Cotton closed Wednesday at 63.84 cents, up 0.48 cent, March was 64.68 cents, up 0.40 cent and December 2020 finished at 65.55 cents, up 0.10 cent. Estimated contracts were 16,366.