COTTON

Commodities in general came under pressure Friday with heavy selling seen in the energy, oilseed and soft complexes. Cotton was one of the latter to fall hard, led by increased commercial selling throughout the day. This was indicated by the strengthening carry in the marketΆs forward curve.

For the week the December contract gained 2.79 from last FridayΆs close, supported by continued noncommercial buying. The weekly CFTC Commitments of Traders report released after the close, for positions as of Tuesday, September 20, showed this group holding a net-long futures position of 74,357 contracts, an increase of 5,501 contracts from the previous week.

Technically Dec cotton looks to have established a short-term downtrend on its daily chart, in step with the seasonal intermediate-term downtrend on weekly studies. This would indicate the market should come under pressure again next week.

General Comments:

December cotton lost 1.64 to close at 70.07 while March fell 1.39 to 70.43. December corn finished 1/4 cent lower as November soybeans lost 21 1/2 cents and December Chicago wheat slipped 3/4 cent for the day. The U.S. dollar index was 0.023 higher at 95.471. December gold was $3.30 lower at $1,341.40 while December silver fell $0.354 and December copper gained $0.0055.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 130 points lower at 18,262. November crude oil was $1.58 lower at $44.74. The October distillates (heating oil) contract lost $.0402 while October RBOB gasoline fell $.0235 and October natural gas was $0.014 lower.