Keith Brown DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst    

The cotton market was lower Thursday as it assessed its most immediate fundamentals and decided they were collectively bearish. Making that list are higher interest rates, a stronger U.S. dollar, workforce layoffs and poor apparel demand as seen in Thursday's retail sales data.    

Friday, USDA will issue its delayed export sales. While last week's sales were 85,000 positive bales, China will be on a week-long Golden Week break. Thus, sales for Friday as well as next Thursday may be scant.    

All eyes seem to be on Washington as Congress continues to fight over raising the national $31.4-trillion limit.  Some investors expect a last-minute deal to get done. However, if the legislators fail, then the stock and bond markets could tank. Such action would only add to the prevailing bearish sentiment of the cotton market.     

Heading into Friday, spot March is 1.10 cents for the week and 0.02 cent higher on the month and year, respectively.    

Thursday, March 2023 finished at 83.39 cents, down 1.42 cents, July settled at 84.18 cents, down 1.22 cents and December 2023 ended at 82.32 cents, 0.88 cent lower; estimated volume was 37,368 contracts.    

Keith Brown can be reached at commodityconsults@gmail.com 

(c) Copyright 2023 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.