ICE No. 2 cotton settles mostly lower

Nearby months ended under light pressure, settling on losses ranging between 7 to 34 points while some forward months finished between 8 to 32 points higher. May ’24 futures opened modestly lower (-4) and quickly moved to positive ground early in the session, reaching a high of 95.35 cents/lb (+77) within the first few minutes. The most active contract had a mixed tone over the next several hours, before dropping to a low of 93.14 cents/lb (-144) by 1345 GMT. May cotton moved back to the middle of its range, trading to the downside over the rest of the session to settle at 94.24 cents/lb (-34), its lowest level since February 23. Over the past four sessions, the most active contract has lost an impressive 684 points.

ICE estimated volume at 46,400 contracts, lower than yesterday’s 61,485. At the time cotton settled, the US dollar was trading lower, as well as corn, soybeans and wheat.

Total open interest was last reported at 268,389 contracts (-1,144). March ’24 interest was unchanged at 9 contracts while May ’24 and July ’24 interest decreased by 1,391 and 1,658 contracts, respectively, to 127,700 and 70,777. December ’24 interest increased by 1,770 contracts to 60,100.

Certificated stocks were last reported at 1,636 bales, unchanged. There were no bales awaiting review and no bales reported in both cert stocks and CCC loan as of March 4.

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