DTN Closing Cotton            06/03 13:34

   Cotton Futures Stay Above 80-cent Mark

   After the literal ups and downs of the cotton market over the past two days, 
the ICE futures were able to stay above the 80-cent mark, and that has some 
psychological value.

Keith Brown
DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst

   After the literal ups and downs of the cotton market over the past two days, 
the ICE futures were able to stay above the 80-cent mark, and that has some 
psychological value. The market may be at a very critical price juncture, with 
speculators still fairly long, but recent favorable news unable to move the 
market. Traders say the CFTC update will be an influential report.

   This Thursday, USDA will issue fresh export sales data. Last week saw net 
sales for old crop at 153,000 bales, up 17%, and new crop at 112,000. Weekly 
shipments were 317,700, up 10% weekly.

   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 7,400 positions, reducing their 
overall net-long position to some 54,000 contracts. The data will be out at 
3:30 p.m. EDT.

   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.

   Crude oil was higher today amid comments from Israeli Prime Minister 
Netanyahu to CNBC business channel that Iran was "playing with fire." Netanyahu 
said Israel and the U.S. were ready to strike Iran again, if necessary.

   For Wednesday, July closed at 76.73 cents, down 31 points; December closed 
at 80.51 cents, minus 3 points; and March 2027 finished at 81.72 cents, 
unchanged. Wednesday's estimated volume was 62,200 contracts.

   Keith Brown can be reached at commodityconsults@gmail.com




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