Cotton futures drop to over one-week low as equities slide

ICE cotton futures fell to an over one-week low on Monday as market sentiment soured following a sharp sell-off in equities, while investors also awaited reports of damage to the natural fiber crop from Hurricane Sally.

Cotton contracts for December fell 0.46 cent, or 0.7%, at 65.20 cents per lb, by 1:04 p.m. EDT (1704 GMT), having touched their lowest since Sept. 11 earlier in the session.

It traded within a range of 64.72 and 66.23 cents a lb.

"We are seeing a sell-off across most of the commodities and stock markets today so there is some carryover from that," said Bailey Thomen, cotton risk management associate with StoneX Group.

Equities market and oil prices fell on Monday as rising coronavirus cases increased concerns about a global economic recovery.

Increasing demand concerns induced by the virus have weighed on the natural fiber, sending prices down by about 7% so far this year.

"In general, market seems to be waiting for estimates to come out surrounding the crop damage from the recent hurricanes. If we see that the total crop production is going to decrease, then we might see a rally again," she added.

The natural fiber had jumped to its highest level since late February in the previous week on fears around the damage to the crop by Hurricane Sally.

Currently, market participants are keeping a close watch on Tropical Storm Beta, which was located near the Texas coast.

Meanwhile, speculators raised net long positions to 41,743 contracts in the week to Sept. 15, data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) showed on Friday.