The cotton market was sharply higher Tuesday when the news came out that the U.S. would delay tariffs on certain imported Chinese items. Additionally, rumors swirled that China indicated it would buy a huge amount of U.S. agricultural products to stave off the September 1 deadline for tariff implementation.

The market halted just below the 60-cent level but did post its highest close in 7 sessions. With optimism running higher, it will be necessary for the market to close even stronger on the week if short-sold speculators are to be convinced to come loose of their bearish positions.

This Thursday the market will see weekly sales and exports data. Given USDA just increased its exports projections to 17.20 million bales, we would think the market needs to quickly see evidence of strong movement.

The China news also resulted in higher energies, soybeans, Dow Jones and copper, which are reflective of the industrial commodities group, of which cotton is a member.

For Tuesday, December cotton settled at 59.41 cents, up 1.27 cents, March finished at 60.05 cents, up 1.15 cents and December 2020 closed at 63.24 cents, up 0.62 cent. Tuesday’s estimated volume was 34,000 contracts.