By Keith Brown, DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst 

The cotton market was sharply lower Monday as a myriad of other commodities markets sold off. Apparently, the market felt the sting of increasing COVID-19 infections around the world, namely India and Beijing’s move to restrict some domestic lending to cool its booming property demand.

Monday afternoon USDA will issue its weekly crop progress data. Last week, the numbers indicated plantings were at 6% complete, which is in line with historical information.

Last week saw USDA cut domestic ending stocks to 3.90 million bales, below its March level of 4.20 million. This current decline brings the stocks-to-usage ratio down to 21.6%, the lowest since 2017-18, when it fell to 21.5%.

Monday’s big volume trade of 70,0000-plus contracts suggests managed money speculators may be becoming disenchanted with the cotton market. Despite all the glowing supply-demand fundamentals up until now, the uncertainty with the world economy may be weighing on the psyche of traders.

Monday May Cotton closed at 80.14 cents, down 2.26 cents, July settled at 81.51 cents, down 2.23 cents and December ended at 80.44 cents, down 1.34 cents; estimated volume was 70,250 contracts.