By Keith Brown, DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst 

Cotton futures settled slightly lower Wednesday with light volume as traders were all but gone for the Thanksgiving break. Wednesday’s estimated volume was a slow 13,000 contracts. The market will trade an abbreviated session Friday, 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. We will also see a weekly exports sales report at 7:30 a.m. CST Friday, delayed from Thursday because of the holiday.

Into next week, the market will enter a new trading month. Of course, it was December 2019 when the cotton market enjoyed a huge upside run, topping at 74.00 cents, as traders were dialing in the potential effects of the U.S./China phase-one deal. Since that time, the market has been to hell and back, with COVID, the shuttering of the U.S. economy, and the election. Hopefully, 2021 will emerge as a stronger commodities year.

However, as the market enters the last Friday of November, March cotton stands down 60 points on the week, but up 258 monthly, and plus 156 on the year. Spot December remains in delivery until its expiration on Dec. 8.

Today, March cotton closed at 72.36 cents, down .62 cent; July 21 settled at 73.89 cents, off .58 cent; December 21 ended at 70.73 cents, minus .30 cent. Wednesday’s estimated volume was 13,280 contracts.