By Keith Brown, DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst 

Operating on “holiday volume,” the cotton market was able to squeak out a slightly positive close Tuesday. Interestingly, spot March came within 0.16 cent of eclipsing its double top from last week at 76.41 cents, but profit-taking-type selling emerged to push prices off. Additionally, the higher cotton market may have been bullishly inspired by rising Chicago Grains. Corn and soybeans posted substantial highs Tuesday amid rumored Chinese buying.

USDA is scheduled to release its weekly export-sales report this Thursday morning. The last three weeks has seen stunning sales of 400,000 bales, with China the top buyer. The recent decline of the U.S. dollar may have fueled additional strong sales.

The market will trade a full session on New Year’s Eve (Thursday), but will be closed on Friday, New Year’s Day. Trading will resume Sunday night.

Tuesday, March cotton closed at 77.01 cents, up 0.66 cent, July settled at 78.08 cents, up 0.55 cent and December cotton ended at 74.11 cents, up 0.31 cent; estimated volume was 14,610 contracts.