Keith Brown DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst    

The cotton market was lower Thursday in what was described as a "risk-off" day. The Chicago grains, energies and the metals were all under pressure, thus, from a peripheral stance, cotton couldn't muster any bullish support.    

The ECB (European Central Bank) hiked its interest rate by 50 basis points Thursday. It was the biggest increase since 2011. The Euro gained on the dollar, before paring gains in a choppy session. The Federal Reserve is set to meet next week to announce its own interest rate hike.    

USDA's weekly export sales report showed net sales of 54,100 running bales of cotton for 2021-22 were up noticeably from the previous week and up 93% from the prior four-week average. However, there were some cancellations, reflecting the underlying weakness in cotton demand.    

According to ICE officials, the Chinese state-owned companies, Chinatex Corporation Limited and COFCO Resources SA (CRSA), have agreed to pay total fines of $3.3 million over suspected rule violations in trading U.S. cotton futures and options contracts.    

Heading into Friday's trade, December Cotton is up 2.96 cents on the week, down 7.17 cents on the month, and down 0.98 cent year to date.    

For Thursday, December closed at 91.60 cents, down 1.21 cents, March 2023 finished at 87.88 cents, down 1.02 cents and July 2023 settled at 84.22 cents, down 0.92 cent; estimated volume was 15,220 contracts.    

Keith Brown can be reached at commodityconsults@gmail.com 

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