Comments:

The cotton market followed through on technical signals, indicating short-term trends had turned down. Pressure was seen throughout the day, gaining momentum later in the session. Futures spreads indicating most of the activity came from noncommercial traders. Some of this was tied to the aforementioned technical signals, while others responded to a rally in the U.S. dollar index. The sharp sell-off erased nearly all of the gains established the rest of the week.

General Comments:

May cotton closed 1.20 lower at 57.16 with new-crop December down 1.14 at 56.90. May corn was 1 1/2 cents lower, May soybeans finished 1/4 cent lower, and May Chicago wheat closed 1/2 cent higher. The U.S. dollar index rallied 0.285 to 95.044. April gold fell $9.00 to $1,256.00 while May silver was $0.183 lower and May copper was up $0.0075. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 96 points higher at 17,578. April crude oil was $0.68 lower at $39.52.