By Keith Brown, DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst 

The cotton market traded both sides of unchanged, hand in hand with the Dow Jones. Several times Thursday the Dow took steep intraday declines only to snap positive. Cotton, on a smaller scale, mimicked the action. The cotton market seemed unbothered by the poor showing in the weekly sales data but was somewhat buoyed by the strong shipment numbers. China was a prominent player in both sales and exports.

As the market heads into Friday’s session, December Cotton stands 0.12 cent lower on the week, a mere 0.06 cent higher on the month and lastly is 4.14 cents down on the year.

Producers across the Cotton Belt are making strides towards defoliation. Some have reported that their disappointment is early yield loss due to adverse weather conditions. This Monday, USDA will issue another update on the status of the 2020 crop. As of last week, the crop was 57% bolls opening, with harvest activity barely scratching double-digits levels. Naturally, those categories will quickly change with the passage of time.

The U.S. dollar continued its upward surge Thursday, although it did close slightly lower. Apparently, the look of its daily chart is such that short-sold speculators are covering, while other traders are buying into new long positions. There seems to be a trading consensus that the U.S. Dollar Index will achieve the 9500 level.

December Cotton closed at 65.46 cents, up 0.21 cent, March closed at 66.25 cents, up 0.11 cent and December 2021 finished at 65.82 cents, 0.03 cent lower. Estimated volume was 24,489 contracts.