By Keith Brown, DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst 

The cotton market ended higher Tuesday, albeit with a quiet tone. Of course, to some degree, the old crop is prepping for March cotton’s delivery, which commences next Tuesday. To that end, a certain amount of liquidation, or rolling, must happen by Friday’s settlement, as March’s open interest stands at 25,000-plus positions with three days left for traders to square spot positions.

Many outside markets remain nervously volatile despite some Russian troop adjustments being made. Supposedly, Moscow has ordered some of its forward elements “back to the barracks.” This move has caused gold, crude, and the grains to spill, while the Dow has jumped higher.

The Commerce Department released its producer price index Tuesday. The data revealed a January increase of 1%, and a 9.7% jump for the past twelve months. The PPI measures wholesale prices. The core PPI rose 0.9%. Both increases were pretty much double traders’ expectations. Earlier in the month, the CPI numbers (consumers) were released, and they showed inflation running at a 40-year high.

Tuesday, March Cotton settled at 123.04 cents, up 0.11 cent, July ended at 118.03 cents, up 0.14 cent and December finished at 104.08 cents, 0.54 cent higher; estimated volume was 39,434 contracts.