Tuesday was December’s cotton turn to closed higher in a trade mark by few positive fundamentals, poor technicals and low volume. In fact, once again, December’s trading range was less than 100 points, underscoring the disinterest of the general trade. Tuesday also marked the initiation of the U.S. tariff on China and vice versa. That continues to the big problem which will not go away.
Wednesday, the Federal Reserve will meet and most likely announce an uptick in U.S. interest rates. Their move ought to strengthen the U.S. Dollar, thus placing additional ankle weights on U.S. sales. Those sales have been cumulatively running at a very strong pace, but the last few weeks have seen dismal numbers.
India’s crop has been under some stress as her monsoonal rains are running some 10% below their 50-year average. Still, it is in the catbird’s seat when it comes to exports as China is importing four times the amount of cotton as in the past.
December cotton settled at 7899, up 41, March was 7944, up 48, and December 19 finished 7666, up 48.