By Keith Brown, DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst 

The cotton market recovered most of its losses from Monday in a classic counter-Monday trade. The driving force behind the move was a sharp recovery in the Dow Jones. Fearing a resurgence of COVID-19, the Dow fell some 900 points Monday, but closed 650 points lower. Tuesday, the Dow is up over 600 points, and its upside return allowed cotton to rally.

The one- to five-day forecast calls for light to no rain in west Texas, with heavier amounts across the Delta and Southeast. The six- to 10- and eight- to 14-day forecasts call for above-normal temperatures and below-normal precipitation to return to the cotton growing regions, including West Texas.

Traders will be looking to Thursday’s weekly export sales for some guidance. The end of the 2020-21 is drawing close, and thus it will be interesting to see what amount of unshipped bales will roll into the new crop year.

Tuesday, December settled 88.51 cents, up 1.80 cents, March ended at 88.08 cents, up 1.73 cents and December 2022 ended at 79.76 cents, up 0.63 cent; estimated volume was 26,121 contracts.