By Keith Brown, DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst 

The cotton market closed higher Friday despite all the unsettling news concerning Ukraine/Russia. To that end, given the Chinese Olympics end this Sunday, and with Monday being a U.S. holiday, some traders fear the Russians will make their move into Ukraine late this weekend.

However, the Russian foreign minister has invited the U.S. Secretary of State Blinken for talks next week. Still, cotton prices were off some 2% this week as geo-political tensions kept traders on edge.

March cotton enters delivery next Tuesday, but the ICE market will post any notices Friday. Coming into Friday morning there were some 7,000-contracts still outstanding in spot March’s open interest.

With the observance of Presidents Day on Monday, all USDA cotton reports for next week will be delayed by one day. That means that weekly export sales will be issued on Friday, Feb. 25. Also, next week’s general economic calendar will include GDP (Q4 2020) on Thursday, while durable goods and personal income will be released on Friday.

Friday, March cotton settled at 122.99 cents, up 1.06 cents, July ended at 118.13 cents, up 1.45 cents and December finished at 102.79 cents, 0.48 cent higher; estimated volume was 25,202 contracts.