By Keith Brown, DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst 

The cotton market spiked lower Wednesday as USDA planted acres proved to be not bullish enough for traders. Although 2021 acres were pegged at 11.70 million, that was below the industry trade guess of 11.84 million. Traders had hoped the high-flying corn and beans markets would have siphoned off more cotton acres. In addition, weather conditions are looking ideal for Texas, the top U.S. producer.

Thursday USDA will issue its weekly export sales data. This late in the season traders are wary that there may be a sizable roll of unfixed old-crop positions into the new crop.

The U.S. dollar edged higher after data showed U.S. private payrolls increased more than expected in June by 692,000 jobs. Data for May though was revised lower to show 886,000 jobs added instead of the initially reported 978,000. This Friday the Labor Department will publish its monthly employment report.

Weather for the U.S. Cotton Belt indicates below normal to above-normal rainfall, and below-normal temperatures for much of the Cotton Belt. For certain production areas, the realization of such forecasts may harm crop development.

For Wednesday, July closed at 84.03 cents, down 2.46 cents, December settled at 84.90 cents, down 2.68 cents and March 2022 ended at 84.71 cents, 2.37 cents lower; estimated volume was 35,319 contracts.