By Keith Brown DTN Cotton Correspondent 

Despite the market being technically oversold, heading into a Friday, it could not muster the will for any sort of a short-covering rally. There was earlier talk that the market might bounce off its chart support at 60.25 cents and try to recoup at least one-half of its weekly loss.

Yet that was not to be the case, as even being down 2.00 cent on the week, was not enough to prompt any serious buying. In fact, when the news that the Chinese delegation cut short their Washington visit, along with cancelling their trips to Nebraska and Montana, many of the financial and agricultural markets bearishly winced.

On Monday, USDA will inform the traders about the condition the cotton crop and its harvest progress. To that end, the former Hurricane Imelda has punished producers in eastern Texas and the soon lower delta with some heavy-duty rains.

Also, next week is the last full week of the third quarter. Timing-wise seasonal traders will be keen to watch the market’s trading behavior during the months of October and November. In recent years, such was the time the final crop low was posted.

For the week, December cotton was off 1.70 cents, with a daily estimated volume of 17,982 contracts traded.

For Friday, December cotton closed at 60.52 cents, up 0.19 cent, March finished at 61.17 cents, plus 0.11 cent and December 2020 ended at 63.52 cents, off 0.52 cent.