ICE cotton futures rebounded on Friday from a two-week low hit the prior session, as a report showing job growth in the United States raised optimism about the economy, supporting most commodities. "If you're putting new jobs into the marketplace, that's better for the economy as a whole," said Sharon Johnson, introducing broker with Wedbush Securities in Atlanta. "In general, an improvement in the economy will help cotton go up here."
Cotton contracts for July settled up by 0.63 cent on Friday, a 1 percent gain, at 66.16 cents per pound. It traded within a range of 65.28 and 66.22 cents a pound. US nonfarm payrolls increased 223,000, while the unemployment rate fell to 5.4 percent, its lowest level since May 2008 even as more people joined the labour market. The cash to second-month spread fell 0.12 cent to 0.42 cents per pound.
Total futures market volume fell by 7,667 to 13,759 lots. Data showed total open interest fell 3,337 to 194,494 contracts in the previous session. Certificated cotton stocks deliverable as of May 7 totalled 97,732 480-lb bales, up from 90,756 in the previous session. The dollar index was up 0.16 percent. The Thomson Reuters CoreCommodity CRB Index, which tracks 19 commodities, was up 1.03 percent. The Relative Strength Index in the most-active contract rose to 55.034.