Keith Brown DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst    

In a move of correction, the cotton market ended its Tuesday session lower. Surrounding outside markets, which were a fountain of support on Monday, were fairly quiet Tuesday. Of course, in and of itself, the cotton market has become patently "overbought: as it stands within arm's reach of 10-plus year highs.    

The Commerce Department reported a positive retail sales number for April Tuesday morning. In quick summary, retail sales rose 0.9% in April and 0.6% excluding autos, slightly above the analysts' estimates. It was the fourth-consecutive increase in U.S. retail sales. The Commerce Department also revised upward the prior month's sales data. March sales rose 1.4%, up from the initial estimate of 0.5%, and ex-autos rose 2.1%, up from the 1.1% reported earlier. The strong activity opened the door for the Federal Reserve to push U.S. interest rates even higher. The dollar was moderately lower Tuesday.    

Looking ahead, traders are anticipating this Thursday's weekly export-sales data. Interestingly, last week's information reported marketing-year low sales for corn, soybeans, wheat and cotton. Surely, such poor numbers will be easy to improve upon.    

As reported earlier, the immediate weather outlook for West Texas holds scant rain. However, the six- to 10-day does indicate better chance for rain, with moderating temperatures.    

For Tuesday, July cotton settled at 148.46 cents, down 2.19 cents, December closed at 132.36 cents, down 0.60 cent and March 2023 finished at 126.79 cents, 0.47 cent lower; estimated volume was 25,952 contracts.    

Keith Brown can be reached at commodityconsults@gmail.com 

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