By Keith Brown, DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst 

The cotton market was triple digits lower Wednesday as traders adjusted their positions for Thursday USDA reports. The first release will be the weekly export sales, followed by USDA’s WASDE.

Although last week’s export sales numbers were not dynamic, both China and Vietnam lead the list of new-crop buyers. For the WASDE, traders are anticipating an increase in production and carryout and a modest hike in exports.

Wednesday’s CPIs did show a slight increase with the domestic inflation pace; however, it was not a runaway number. Afterwards, the Dow Jones posted new all-time highs, while the U.S. dollar retreated.

Traders continue to monitor Tropical Storm Fred. Currently, it is scooting across the lower Caribbean and appears to be heading into the Gulf of Mexico. From there, it is anyone’s guess as to its intensity and direction.

Wednesday, December settled 91.22 cents, down 1.10 cents, March ended at 90.66 cents, down 1.13 cents and December 2022 ended at 81.53 cents, 0.93 cent lower; estimated volume was 25,052 contracts.