Cotton Market Peaked? An Odd Signal, Perhaps.

Have cotton prices peaked?

Sharon Johnson, senior cotton analyst with First Capital Group in Atlanta, suspects that may be the case.

“Wednesday’s high is looking increasingly as a significant top, if not the top of this entire move,” she noted in a memo Friday. Indicators already were in place, then panic selling in China took hold.

“The macro picture has also turned bearish with China’s efforts to control inflation, pushing all of their individual commodity markets down, which spilled over into ours,” she wrote.

Friday was a “another brutal day with cotton as U.S. futures followed China’s lead by closing down substantially, if not at limit down.”

Adding to the probability, she said, was the fact that she was interviewed by a CBS Evening News crew Friday afternoon for a broader piece about soaring cotton prices and what it means for consumers..

“Although cotton’s advance has been well documented in print media and on the internet, along with business cable networks such as CNBC and Bloomberg, it has not hit national mainstream network TV, such as CBS, until now,” she said. “As we all know, by the time the public is made aware, the specific market being discussed has already topped.”

The segment, she was told, should air Sunday night (11/14)