Export sales report expected to cover three-week span. Net all-cotton sales the previous three weeks totaled a combined 274,100 running bales.
Cotton futures fell to a new low for the move, rallied to the plus side shy of the prior-day high and retreated to close lower for the ninth session in a row Wednesday.
Spot December closed down 50 points to 78.21 cents, near the low of its 105-point range from 77.68 to 78.73 cents. March settled off 32 points to 79.83 cents.
Rolling of longs from December by index funds began in earnest and is expected to continue for two weeks. DecemberΆs settlement discount to March widened to 199 points.
Volume rose to an estimated 31,800 lots from 20,403 lots the previous session when spreads totaled 9,905 lots or 49%, EFP 91 lots and EFS 45 lots. Options volume totaled 4,187 calls and 2,842 puts.
A three-week batch of U.S. export sales data is expected at 7:30 a.m. CDT Thursday from USDAΆs Foreign Agricultural Service. This will make this report current through Oct. 24 following the government shutdown.
Net all-cotton sales the previous three weeks totaled 274,100 running bales, including 174,800 bales of upland. The net upland sales included gross sales of 263,800 bales and cancellations of 89,000 bales.
All-cotton shipments were a combined 349,400 running bales for the weeks ended Sept. 19, Sept. 26 and Oct. 3, including 326,600 bales of upland. The report Thursday will be for the weeks ended Oct. 10, Oct. 17 and Oct. 24.
To achieve the USDA forecast, all-cotton shipments for the 42 weeks remaining in the marketing year from Oct. 3 need to average roughly 204,200 running bales a week and sales — just to match the estimate — around 138,300 bales.
While analysts and traders will welcome the fresh data, the lump sum totals could make it difficult to ascertain the business done at certain intervals. December futures from Oct. 4-24 ranged from a high of 87.68 to a low of 78.76 cents.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission expects to resume by Nov. 8 its regular schedule on its weekly reports on commitments of traders. Cotton-on-call reports are expected to be up to date by Nov. 7.
Futures open interest fell 785 lots Tuesday to 202,160, with DecemberΆs down 1,918 lots to 106,247 and MarchΆs up 777 lots to 72,577.
Certificated stocks grew 6,434 bales to 141,425 on 6,435 newly certified bales and one decertified bale. Awaiting review were 36,568 bales, including 8,180 bales at Galveston, 11,764 bales at Greenville and 16,624 bales at Memphis.
World values as measured by the Cotlook A Index fell 20 points Wednesday morning to 85.70 cents. The premium to TuesdayΆs December futures settlement widened 11 points to 7.36 cents.