December Cotton finished this week, 1.47 cents higher versus last Friday’s close. Of course, last Friday saw a sharp rally in the futures as the market had become extremely oversold. At that point, the market had tested a multi-year trend line, with speculators who were heavily bearish — so, time was ripe for a short-covering bounce. Unfortunately, since that time, the market has done little to further capitalize on that possible July bottom.

Next week concludes the month of July, meaning it is possible to see some additional monthly profit-taking, as some funds might attempt to dress up their trading books. However, the more important event next week is the long-suffering U.S.-China trade negotiations.

This time the two sides will meet in Shanghai, — China’s largest port city. Subscribers will remember the talks fell apart in May, and it has taken this much time — with a lot of long-distance give-and-take — to get the China back to the table. Still, unless one side or the other will drop some of their more pronounced sticking points, it is hard to think a real deal is at hand.

Monday will see another round of crop condition reporting. Last week, USDA pegged the national crop at 60% good to excellent. Most likely, the government numbers will keep the crop at its present rating, or up a notch.

For Friday, December cotton settled at 64.54 cents, plus 0.35 cent, March was finished at 65.46 cents, up 0.31 cent and December 2020 closed at 66.30 cents, up 0.12 cent. Estimated volume was 14,800 contract, 1,000 more than Thursday.