By Keith Brown, DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst 

Cotton closed slightly higher on muted volume before the Thanksgiving Day observance. To that end, most traders vacated their trading screens earlier Wednesday to get a jump on the holiday. The next big event for the market will be Friday’s weekly export sales.

The U.S. dollar hit a 16-month high Wednesday, as traders remain fearful that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates sooner rather than later. A stronger greenback is considered a hindrance to foreign sales of cotton.

Energy prices were basically steady on Wednesday as traders questioned the effectiveness of the U.S. release from its strategic reserves. Most analysts said the effect on prices was likely to be minimal. Attention quickly switched to how the OPEC+ will react to the U.S. and other nations reserve release. OPEC is scheduled to hold two meetings next week to set any new policy changes.

Heading into Friday’s abbreviation, March cotton is down 0.65 cent on the week, but up 4.56 cent on the month and 40.51 cents higher on the year.

Wednesday, December settled at 120.38 cents, up 0.02 cent, March ended at 115.78 cents, up 0.12 cent and December 2022 ended at 91.76 cents, 0.14 cent higher; estimated volume was 13,048 contracts.