By Keith Brown, DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst 

Monday, ICE Futures settled on both sides on Friday’s close with spot December down and the March contract slightly higher. Overall, the market is anticipating a host of USDA reports this week, starting with Monday’s crop harvest update. Then, on Tuesday, USDA will issue its monthly supply-demand updates. To that end, very little movement is expected in the various categories. Lastly, on Friday, traders will see the delayed weekly export sales as well as December cotton’s option expiration.

The U.S. dollar slipped Monday against world currencies, perhaps making cotton a bit cheaper for foreign buyers. The greenback was lower as traders anticipate higher interest rates down the road to slow the inflation pressures possibly stemming from Biden’s Build Back Better legislative initiative.

Weatherwise, the six- to 10-day outlook shows below-normal rainfall and below-normal temperatures across much of the cotton belt, while the eight- to 14-day echoes a similar forecast. In fact, West Texas looks to have well below-normal rainfall during that period.

For Monday, December settled at 116.55 cents, down 0.32 cent, March ended at 113.29 cents, up 0.05 cent and December 2022 ended at 90.84 cents, 0.41 cent lower; estimated volume was 48,483 contracts.