By Keith Brown, DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst 

The cotton market ended Tuesday slightly higher as the lack of follow-through selling caused some shorts to cover. Additionally, the market is waiting on Wednesday weekly export-sales. USDA will issue its report one day early as the U.S. government will be closed Thursday and Friday in observance of Christmas. The last two week’s sales have averaged 400,000 bales, with China as top buyer.

The U.S. Dollar was higher Tuesday as traders continue to short cover the market. Of late, the buck has been in a steep downtrend, but the fact the latest stimulus bill just passed by Congress was not as massive as first proposed encouraged some buying in the dollar.

As a reminder, the cotton market will trade a full day on Wednesday, a partial session on Thursday, but of course be totally closed on Friday. Trading will resume at 8 a.m. Monday morning.

Tuesday, March cotton closed at 74.82 cents, up 0.06 cent, July settled at 75.99 cents, down 0.18 cent and December ended at 72.33 cents, down 0.03 cent; estimated volume was 24,510 contracts.