DTN Closing Cotton            06/04 13:32

   Cotton Market Gets Crushed

   The cotton market was sharply lower today.

Keith Brown
DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst

   The cotton market was sharply lower today. After some technical hesitation 
over the past few days about the 80-cent level, nervous speculators finally 
began to liquidate long positions and likely initiated some new shorts. Besides 
improving weather across the U.S. Cotton Belt and expected higher acreage, 
there was spillover bearishness from collapsing Chicago grains as well.

   Highlights from today's USDA cotton export sales included net sales of 
185,268 bales for the 2025/26 (current) marketing year and 77,145 for 2026/27 
for a total of 262,413. Last week's total take was 265,663 bales, with a 
four-week average of around 216,000 bales. Cumulative sales for 2025/26 have 
reached 100% of USDA's forecast versus a five-year average of 109% for this 
point in the marketing year.

   This Friday, the Labor Department will release its jobs numbers for May. 
Last month's data showed a much higher employment rate than most were 
expecting. For this report, expectations call for non-farms jobs to be at 
95,000 versus the prior 115,000 jobs.

   Also on Friday, the CFTC will update its Commitment of Traders report. Last 
week's numbers showed the occurrence of net-selling for the first time in a 
dozen weeks. Managed-money funds sold some 7,800 positions, reducing their 
overall net-long position to some 54,000 contracts. The data will be out at 
3:30 p.m. EDT.

   As a reminder, option expiration for the July contract is Friday, June 12, 
while the Spot July contract commences delivery on June 24 and runs through 
July 9.

   For Thursday, July closed at 74.89 cents, down 184 points; December closed 
at 78.49 cents, minus 202 points; and March 2027 finished at 79.81 cents, 191 
points lower. Thursday's estimated volume was 89,948 contracts.

   Keith Brown can be reached at commodityconsults@gmail.com




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