| |
DTN Closing Cotton 07/29 13:40
Cotton Takes It On The Chin Wednesday
The cotton market was materially lower Wednesday due to several factors.
Keith Brown
DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst
The cotton market was materially lower Wednesday due to several factors. One
was the military ramp-up in the U.S./Iranian War. Such action creates
uncertainty and most markets eschew that condition. There was also gearing up
for the potential announcement from the Federal Reserve on interest rates (see
below). Last, but not least, is the continued midyear and end-of-the-month
squaring by discretionary funds.
Wednesday, the Federal Reserve voted to hold its key interest rate steady,
but not without opposition. Three officials who have expressed concern over
inflation wanted to hike the Fed Funds Rate by one quarter-point. Summarily,
the Federal Open Market Committee voted 9-3 to leave the federal funds rate in
a range between 3.5% and 3.75%.
Crude oil is sharply higher Wednesday after Iran launched a surprise attack
on American forces with ballistic missiles. Despite the nature of the attack,
all IRCG missiles were intercepted and knocked down. However, President Trump
publicly retorted with a graphic description of the eventual U.S. answer.
Thursday at 8:30 a.m. EDT, USDA will issue its weekly export sales report.
Highlights from the previous report included sales of 51,287 bales for the
2025-26 marketing year and 16,146 for the 2026-27 season. The combined seasonal
summary was 67,433 bales. That amount exceeded the 38,435 of the previous week.
Cumulative sales for 2025-26 have reached 107% of USDA's forecast versus a
five-year average of 114% for this point in the marketing year. Shipments
totaled 276,313 bales, up from 214,893 the previous week.
On Friday the CFTC updated its Commitments of Traders data. The results
showed managed-money funds bought some 3,500 futures, further swelling their
net-long position to 53,209 contracts.
For Wednesday, December closed at 79.63 cents, down 100 points; March 2027
finished at 82.14 cents, minus 97 points; and July 2027 settled at 82.15 cents,
off 101 points. Wednesday's estimated volume was 27,393 contracts.
Keith Brown can be reached at commodityconsults@gmail.com
(c) Copyright 2026 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.
For more free DTN information sent right to your email each morning - click here to sign up for DTN Snapshot.
|
|
