By Keith Brown, DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst 

The cotton market experienced a very slow session Thursday, marked by muted volume and tight ranges. Of course, to some degree, the market was held in check by the Veterans Day holiday, as both USDA and the Federal Reserve were closed.

Friday morning, USDA will issue its delayed weekly export-sales data. Naturally, traders would like to see more depth of sales, with China leading the way. Last week’s sales tallied about 139,000 bales sold versus the season’s running average of more like 350,000 bales.

The U.S. dollar continued trading higher Thursday. Some traders fear that rising inflation may force the Fed to raise interest rates sooner rather than later. Higher interest rates are typically bullish to the greenback, but somewhat negative to commodities.

For Thursday, December settled at 118.54 cents, down 0.14 cent, March ended at 115.41 cents, plus 0.36 cent and December 2022 ended at 91.56 cents, 0.36 cent lower; estimated volume was 49,346 contracts.