By Keith Brown, DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst
With the bullish winds of financial markets blowing at its back, the cotton market ended the week higher. For the week, new crop December is up nearly 0.80 cent and over 2.00 cents thus far this month. The market did overcome lackluster sales this week, but saw superior shipments. China and Vietnam have been the dominant players in global cotton trade in recent weeks. Sales are running way ahead of the five-year average for sales this time of year.
In the way of data for next week, crop progress comes on Monday, followed by July cotton’s delivery on Wednesday, then Thursday will see export sales as well as jobless claims.
Friday afternoon, the CFTC will report on the status of certain managed money speculators via its commitment of traders. Within the past two weeks, those speculators have turned net long after being short the market right after the tariffs on China were implemented.
The weather forecasts have little change, with the dominant ones signaling rains for the Texas Panhandle Friday. For the balance of the cotton belt, the chance of rain for the six- to 10-day forecast is normal to above normal, with temperatures normal to slightly above normal for the extreme portions of the Southeast.
July cotton closed Friday at 61.56 cents, up 0.39 cent, December closed at 59.81 cents, up 0.29 cent and March cotton settled at 60.56 cents, up 0.34 cent. Estimated volume was 18,616 contracts traded.