December fell to lower price since Oct. 12. Rain chances improved on the Texas Plains and Tropical Storm Cindy was expected to make landfall Thursday near the Louisiana-Texas state line.

Cotton futures reversed off early gains to settle lower across the board Wednesday, down 18 to 82 points, with December settling on a new low close for the move.

December settled down 80 points to 68.17 cents, its lowest finish since Oct. 11 when it closed at the same price. It traded from up 70 points at 69.67 cents, above the TuesdayΆs high, to down 184 points at 68.13 cents, its lowest intraday print since Oct. 12.

A 50% retracement of the 1,642-point move from the December contract low of 59.30 to its contract high of 75.72 would be 67.51 cents.

July closed down 46 points to 70.89 cents, its lowest settlement since Dec. 28 and near the low of its 118-point range from 71.94 to 70.76 cents. October dropped 77 points to close at 68.27 cents.

Volume increased to an estimated 28,094 lots from 22,860 lots the previous session when spreads accounted for 7,399 lots or 32%, EFS 258 lots and EFP 67 lots. Options volume dipped to 7,695 lots (6,560 calls and 1,135 puts) from 10,869 lots (7,670 calls and 3,199 puts).

Rain chances improved on the Texas High Plains, while Tropical Storm Cindy was expected to make landfall Thursday near the Louisiana-Texas state line.

Thunderstorms with downburst winds around could affect the northwestern High Plains and adjacent areas Wednesday evening and night. Rain chances were rated at 40% there and 20% in the Lubbock area. Some heavy rainfall is possible this weekend, forecasts indicated, but the coverage appeared uncertain.

Meanwhile, a weekly crop and weather report from the Texas AgriLife Extension Service said about half the dryland cotton acres in the South Plains had poor stands or no emergence. Early irrigated cotton has reached squaring.

Most cotton in the Panhandle “looked good,” the report said in the district summaries. Irrigated cotton, the majority of the cotton acres there, was doing well but dryland needed moisture.

The cotton planting deadline for full insurance coverage expired Tuesday in the Rolling Plains. Deadlines on the High Plains ranged from May 31 in some northern countries to June 10 in the south, but some growers who have lost crops are replanting to cotton.

The northern, more heavily irrigated northern High Plains is estimated to have accounted for the bigger percentage of the regionΆs increased cotton plantings from last yearΆs 3.673 million acres, which included 1.527 million irrigated acres and 2.146 million dryland acres.

Futures open interest declined 1,576 lots to 206,774 on Tuesday, with JulyΆs down 2,744 lots to 9,595, DecemberΆs up 850 lots to 160,466 lots and MarchΆs down 31 lots to 25,071 lots.

Certified stocks grew 2,645 bales to 483,106. There were 6,977 bales awaiting review, including 70 bales at Dallas-Fort Worth, 616 at Galveston and 6,291 lots at Memphis.