ICE cotton futures closed Tuesday with gains of 10 to 19 points, as contracts held firm despite a mildly bearish USDA report. Crude oil futures were down 49 cents to $58.39 per barrel, while the U.S. dollar index rose $0.114 to $99.175.

USDA’s Crop Production report kept acreage unchanged but raised yield by 10 lbs/acre to 929 lbs. That lifted production by 150,000 bales to 14.27 million bales. In the WASDE, adjustments in the unaccounted and domestic use categories pushed projected ending stocks up 200,000 bales to 4.5 million. The cash average price was lowered by 2 cents to 60 cents/lb. World stocks were mostly steady, with a small 40,000-bale rise to 75.97 million bales.

Cotton Ginnings data showed 8.645 million running bales ginned as of December 1, down 10.25% from the same date last year.

Commitment of Traders data for the week ending November 4 showed spec traders cutting 10,311 contracts from their net short, bringing it to 63,782 contracts.

The Seam’s Monday online auction saw sales of 5,608 bales at an average price of 60.2 cents/lb. On December 8, the Cotlook A Index slipped 25 points to 73.95 cents. ICE-certified cotton stocks were steady at 13,971 bales on December 8. The Adjusted World Price was updated last week to 51.28 cents/lb, up 51 points from the previous week.