Cotton futures sold off VERY aggressively in the spot July today and for a time, were selling off hard in new crop as well. But by the close, much of the new crop losses had been recovered. New crop still closed lower for the day, but not by much and the charts still look bullish.

USDA came out with crop condition and planting progress this afternoon and it will likely keep cotton futures on the defensive tomorrow. Planting has hit 95% complete, down just 2 pts from the 5 year average and just 3 pts from last year.

Cotton squaring has hit 10%, down almost half from the 5-year average of 19% and just over a third of last yearΆs squaring at 26% by now. As for crop conditions, theyΆve apparently stabilized in the last week. 42% of the crop is rated “good to excellent”, same as last week. And 19% is rated poor to very poor, which is DOWN 2 pts from last week. So on balance, crop “condition” improved, but ever so slightly.