Cotton finished higher Friday, supported by continued commercial buying interest. The December contract gained $0.37 while the March was up $0.30. For the week December cotton lost $0.97.

Comments:

Commercial buying continued to support new-crop cotton Friday, indicated by the strengthening inverse in the December-to-March futures spread. FridayΆs session was relatively quiet, with trade volume coming in near 11,600 contracts. This was up slightly from the 11,300 traded Thursday. As discussed in morning cotton comments, the December contract was close to establishing a short-term uptrend on its daily chart Friday, with additional buying interest needed Monday to complete the pattern.

General Comments:

New-crop December cotton gained $0.09 to close at $66.91 while March added $0.04 to $66.76. New-crop December corn lost 2 1/4 cents, new-crop November soybeans rallied 7 3/4 cents, and December Chicago wheat closed 6 1/4 cents lower. The U.S. dollar index was $0.21 lower at $93.46. December gold was $1.30 higher at $1,293.60 while September silver was $0.023 lower and September copper lost $0.0070.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 26 points to 21,724. September crude oil gained $1.36 to $48.45. The September distillates (heating oil) contract was $0.0397 higher, September RBOB gasoline rallied $0.0345, and September natural gas dipped $0.034.