By Keith Brown, DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst
The cotton market finished its Wednesday session fractionally lower. Traders are concerned about the recent improvement in USDA’s field ratings for the 2020 Crop, as well as a bearish weather forecast increasing the chances for rain across the Cotton Belt. Moreover, the market is also wary about the melting of the U.S.-China political relationship. Of course, the market is awaiting Thursday’s weekly export sales. Obviously, this report will be a primary fundamental to watch to see if China continues to buy U.S. cotton or takes out its anger by cancelling previous U.S. purchases.
The U.S. dollar continues to reel lower amid the reopening of the U.S. economy, plus the government stimulus and the proposed new stimulus. From its March 2020 Low, the dollar rallied to a coronavirus premium of 104.00, before collapsing. Currently, it is revisiting that March low and looks prepared to violate the January 2019 low of 94.63 cents. Of course, a cheaper dollar is generally considered bullish to U.S. exports, but too weak of a currency causes traders to question the vitality of the economy.
For Wednesday, December cotton closed at 62.54 cents, down 0.41 cent, March ended at 63.26 cents, down 0.35 cent and December 2021 settled at 62.65 cents, down 0.31 cent. Estimated volume was 13,349 contracts.