DTN Closing Cotton            09/20 13:50

   Cotton Closes Fractionally Lower in Choppy Trade

   December cotton finished 25 points lower as the market ignored better sales 
and exports numbers.


By Keith Brown
DTN Cotton Contributing Analyst

   December cotton finished 25 points lower as the market ignored better sales 
and exports numbers. The market did make one attempt to force new lows for the 
week, but additional short-covering type buying emerged to rally prices to 
unchanged levels. Also, the cotton market did get some outside support from the 
Chicago grains, which rallied on news of Argentina potentially increasing the 
export tax on soybeans. The news resulted in a 20-plus cent rally in beans and 
a 10-cent rally for corn. 

   The big reach for cotton is, since China has switched some of its cotton 
buying to South America, then Brazil might attempt to take advantage of that 
situation with an export tax of her own.

   Friday is the end of the week and already December cotton is down 330 
points, week-over-week. Short of a major rally on Friday to pare losses, the 
market will commence Monday's trade on a sour technical note. Most technical 
indicators continue to signal the potential for lower prices. Additionally, 
soon enough the harvesting process will pressure prices lower.   

   December cotton settled 7847, down 25, March finished at 7891, off 24, and 
December 19 closed at 7605, down 10. 

   Keith Brown can be reached at commodityconsults@gmail.com or by calling 
(229) 890-7780.


(BE)

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