By Keith Brown, DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst 

On a day that saw sharp recoveries in corn, beans and wheat, the cotton market ended its Tuesday session fractionally lower. Of late, cotton has been riding high per its last supply and demand report. In that data, USDA lowered production, increased exports and slashed ending stocks. Additionally, the market has seen a pickup in sales and shipments. However, from its late month hesitancy, the market may be signaling it is in need of fresh friendly news. The next chance for that to come is this Thursday when USDA issues its weekly export-sales report.

The market may also be dealing with light, long liquidation. Last Friday, the CFTC reported that managed money traders have been reducing their net long positions, and when the market begins to slow often selling increases.

The U.S. dollar was slightly lower Tuesday, but some currency traders are seeing the possibility of a small rally in the making. They point to the fact there is a lot of pushback on any new COVID-19 relief as being overly expensive. Moreover, the European Union is running way behind on its vaccine purchases and inoculations, thus the EU may yet see another shutdown. All the aforementioned nuances are dollar friendly.

For Tuesday, March cotton settled at 81.71 cents, down 0.62 cent, July finished at 83.69 cents, down 0.45 cent and December cotton closed at 78.69 cents, down 0.19 cent; estimated volume was 42,524 contracts.