The cotton market closed about 45 points lower, but not before it traded well over 100 points lower in early morning dealings.
Overnight, the Trump Administration announced its willingness to hammer China with an additional $500 billion of import levies, the equivalent of her total export trade to the United States. Immediately, the shock waves ran through most financial and commodities markets. However, as the day wore on, emotions subsided and cotton was able to pare its losses. Still, in a week-over-week comparison, the cotton market finished 76 points down.
Texas remains in the grips of a steep heat wave. Temperatures soared well over 100 degrees, causing record-breaking electricity demand for the region. Those triple-digit days are expected to carry over into next week.
On Monday, USDA will issue another round of crop condition numbers and the Market will be expecting to see some deterioration to the 2018 crop.
All major delivery months for cotton settled lower. December 2018 finished at 8708, down 47, March 2019 at 8696, also down 47, and December 2019 at 8025 off 44 points. Volume Friday was deeper at an estimated 17,000 contracts traded.