Keith Brown DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst    

The cotton market was higher Thursday as USDA weekly exports-sales data was deemed "good enough" as far as numbers go, with China again the dominant player. In addition, weather conditions stretching across much of the cotton belt are nothing short of brutal. The national drought monitor is showing West Texas rates at D-4 (exceptional drought), while Georgia stands at D-1 (moderate drought).    

Friday at 3:30 p.m. EDT, CFTC will update its traders' positions. At last count, managed-money funds stood roughly at some 62,000 contracts net long.    

Weather-wise, the six to ten-day and the 8 to 14-day outlooks both call for well above normal temperatures for much of the U.S. Cotton Belt as well as below normal precipitation, especially for West Texas.    

The U.S. dollar was sharply lower Thursday as traders were taking profits based on the after-the-fact event of Wednesday's rate hike. The Greenback remains at twenty-year highs, but with the Fed's action done for now, some traders are wanting to reposition for another move.    

The Dow Jones traded below the psychological level of 30,000 Thursday, as investors worried that the Federal Reserve's more aggressive approach toward inflation would bring the economy into a recession. The financial markets had rallied on Wednesday after the Fed announced its largest rate hike since 1994 but reversed those gains Thursday.    

For Thursday, July Cotton settled at 143.53 cents, up 0.35 cent, December closed at 119.23 cents, up 1.31 cents, and March 23 finished at 114.88 cents, 133 points higher. Thursday's estimated volume was 27,012 contracts.    

Keith Brown can be reached at commodityconsults@gmail.com 

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