By Keith Brown, DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst 

Although the cotton market ended its Tuesday session lower, it was able to recoup about one-half of its intraday loss before closing. At one time Tuesday, spot December was down nearly 1.00 cent, but short-sellers elected to cover those positions, allowing the market to close back above the 65-cent mark. Other selling originated with the emergence of some early harvest pressure.

Tuesday night the presidential debates will be held in Cleveland, Ohio. They are likely to affect the overnight financial and commodity markets, but which way remains to be seen.

The next potential market-moving news will come from this Thursday’s when USDA will issue its weekly exports/sales data. Last week’s report showed weaker sales than the week before, which was a 500,000-plus bale sale, but weekly shipments were superior.

As soon as this latest cold front passes through the Southeast, skies will clear, allowing producers to return to applying defoliate to their crops.

The U.S. dollar finished lower Tuesday as traders squared positions ahead of the debate. Just this week, the dollar hit a two-month high.

December cotton closed at 65.29 cents, down 0.40 cent, March closed at 66.03 cents, down 0.35 cent and December cotton ended at 65.58 cents, down 0.27 cent. Estimated volume was 23,264 contracts.