DTN Closing Cotton            10/15 13:34

   Cotton Market Flat Ahead of Key Data

   The cotton market was essentially flat Thursday, trading both under and over 
Wednesday's close. 



Keith Brown
DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst

   The cotton market was essentially flat Thursday, trading both under and over 
Wednesday's close. Cotton traders were uninspired by the adjacent strong Dow 
and crude oil markets. Friday, there will be fresh export sales and Commitments 
of Traders data to assess.

   Thursday's PPI came in much hotter than forecasted, underscoring the 
continued inflationary pressure from energy amid the U.S. war with Iran. The 
index was 1.3% in September and 6.3% on an annual basis, marking its largest 
12-month advance since late 2022. Estimates had called for an advance of 0.6% 
on the month and 5.5% annually.

   The latest U.S. Retail Sales report was released Thursday. For apparel, the 
data showed that sales at clothing stores were unchanged in September, despite 
stronger overall retail spending. Total U.S. retail sales rose 0.8%, beating 
economists' expectations of 0.3%.

   Weekly export sales will be released Friday. Highlights from last week's 
report included net combined seasonal sales of 221,128 bales. That amount was 
below the previous 241,727 bales, but was higher than the four-week average. 
Cumulative sales for 2027/28 have reached 44% of the USDA forecast versus a 
five-year average of 53% for this point in the marketing year. Shipments 
totaled 161,588 bales, up from 149,507 bales the previous week.

   Also Friday at 3:30 p.m. EDT, the CFTC will update its Commitments of 
Traders numbers. Last week, the managed-money funds net sold some 10,000 
positions, reducing their net-long carry to 63,837 contracts.

   For Thursday, December closed at 80.06 cents, down 60 points; March 2027 
finished at 83.42 cents, minus 58 points; and July 2027 settled at 85.56 cents, 
57 points lower. Thursday's estimated volume was 44,369 contracts.

   Keith Brown can be reached at [email protected]




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