By Keith Brown, DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst 

The cotton market finished its Thursday trade slightly lower, albeit on slightly low volume. Coming into Thursday, the market was prepping for Hurricane Laura, weekly exports and sales, and Fed chairman Jerome Powell’s inflation speech. None of the aforementioned events were dynamic enough to drive the market sharply higher or lower. We would say any serious assessment of damage to Texas/Louisiana has yet to be initiated. Secondly, exports and sales were a mixed bag, with increased sales, and decreased shipments. However, China seems to be a consistent participant. Lastly, Chairman Powell’s announcement that the Fed will determine the inflation rate by “averaging,” suggests low interest will persist longer term and perhaps cause further erosion of the U.S. dollar.

The public fuss between the U.S. and China is intensifying. Just recently, the Trump administration sanctioned several top-level members of the CCP for Hong Kong violations. Just this week, in something of a retort, China fired two “carrier-killing missiles” into the South China. Nearly one-third of the world’s global shipping traverses the South China Sea, a body of water to which China claims 100% ownership.

Into Friday and Monday’s end of the month trade, December cotton is up $1.09 for the week, $2.71 for the month, but nearly $5 down on the year.

For Thursday, December cotton closed at 65.37 cents, down 0.21 cent, March ended at 66.27 cents, off 0.18 cent, and Red December finished at 65.50 cents up 0.17 cent. Thursday’s estimated volume was 19,092 contracts.