By Keith Brown, DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst 

Cotton’s early Monday morning higher trade gave way amid falling grains, energies and the Dow Jones. In fact, at one time Monday, the Dow Jones was threatening to trade nearly 600 points lower. The outside influences of impending higher interest rates, swelling higher inflation and growing concerns over Ukraine set the stage for a nervous Monday for most markets.

This Wednesday at 11 a.m. CST, USDA will update its supply-demand numbers with new estimates for the month of December. Last month saw domestic carryout unchanged at 3.40 million bales, but world stocks had declined to 85.50 million bales. Although it’s likely the market will simply consolidate into this report, in the background there are obvious activities indicating demand for U.S. cotton remains strong.

Bullish sentiment in the wider financial markets remained weak as noted from their recent tumblings. Monday’s action saw Wall Street’s main indexes fall precipitously with certain top-tier technology stocks trading sharply lower. Expectations for a higher interest rate environment soon has many traders on edge. To that end, congressional confirmation hearings for reappointing Jerome Powell as Fed chairman commenced today.

The U.S. dollar regained some lost ground Monday, rising some 0.2% against its currency rivals.

Monday, March cotton settled at 115.22 cents, up .10 cent, July ended at 110.68 cents, plus .40 cent, and December finished at 94.92 cents, .40 cent higher. Monday’s estimated volume was 29,091 contracts.