By Keith Brown, DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst 

The cotton market was lower Tuesday as traders began to position themselves for Thursday’s USDA reports. To that end, USDA will issue its weekly exports-sales followed by its monthly supply-demand update Thursday. To the latter, traders essentially are expecting an increase in domestic ending stocks, but a slight reduction in global carryout.

The US Dollar was higher today as traders await the outcome of next week’s monthly meeting of the Federal Reserve. Of course, Fed Chairman Powell has already indicated his desire to tighten the stimulus belt, with higher interest rates soon to follow.

Crude, and its related energy markets, were higher Tuesday after Saudi Arabia increased their global prices of oil over the weekend. In addition, given the downplay of the omicron variant, speculators are flocking to buy travel stocks and the corresponding energy futures.

Tuesday, December settled at 111.27 cents, down 0.74 cent, March ended at 106.37 cents, down 0.64 cent and December 2022 ended at 89.78 cents, 0.29 cent lower; estimated volume was 17,520 contracts.