By Keith Brown, DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst 

Cotton closed mixed Thursday as the old crop was lower, but the new crop finished slightly higher. Apparently, traders lost their early morning bullish enthusiasm and liquidated their positions. It was pretty obvious that the cotton market was peripherally chasing the outside Chicago grains higher Thursday. The grain markets are in the throes of rationing their tightening supplies via higher prices, while cotton’s ending stocks, which are low, are nowhere near a record level. In addition, cotton’s weekly export-sales data lacked bullish drama and the trade encountered key 50% resistance at its highs.

Spot May cotton will enter its delivery period this Monday. As of this writing, the open interest for spot May stands at 5,200 contracts. To that end, as the market moves into the Friday session, May cotton is up 0.93 cent on the week, plus 3.76 cents on the month and up 5.94 cents on the year.

Thursday, May cotton closed at 84.64 cents, down 0.19 cent, July settled at 86.05 cents, down 0.18 cent, but December ended at 83.75 cents, up 0.06 cent; estimated volume was 24,040 contracts.