Keith Brown DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst    

The cotton market finished lower Wednesday as USDA's November supply-demand updates proved to be somewhat negative. The agency raised the current U.S. crop some 220,000 bales to 14.03 million. Thus, domestic carryout was elevated to 3.0 million bales. World carry was lowered some 600,000 bales (87.27mb) as production losses were seen in Pakistan and Australia.    

Another disappointment was the tempered showing by the GOP in the midterm elections. As a result, the Dow Jones was lower and the U.S. dollar was higher. Those events certainly curbed any bullish enthusiasm for cotton.      

The National Hurricane Center is tracking late-season storm Nicole. The storm is expected to hit the South Georgia crop on Friday. Currently, that crop is 65% gathered. From there, it will run up into the mid-Atlantic states.    

Thursday, USDA will issue its weekly export sales. Last week's sales were 191,000 bales, with China as the largest buyer at 122,000 bales. In addition, this Friday, options will expire for the spot December contract.    

Also Thursday, fresh CPI data will be out. Last month this report showed year-over-year inflation at 8.0%. A "hot number" will only encourage the Federal Reserve to continue to hike interest rates.    

For Wednesday, December closed at 86.50 cents, down 1.18 cents, March 2023 finished at 84.73 cents, down 1.01 cents and July 2023 settled at 82.95 cents, 0.90 cent lower; estimated volume was 68,370 contracts.    

Keith Brown can be reached at commodityconsults@gmail.com 

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