Cotton futures were up 20 to 33 points in Monday trading. For the week ending August 18, managed money added 5,798 contracts to its net long in cotton futures and options, bringing the position to 78,668 contracts. The Cotlook A Index fell 70 points on Friday to 98.20 cents, while ICE certified cotton stocks dropped 1,749 bales on August 21 to 68,894 bales. Crude oil was down $2.03 and the U.S. dollar index was up 0.176.

India said it has lifted, with immediate effect, the wheat export ban in place since May 2022 to help improve farmers’ earnings. The government said domestic prices are currently low and the country has adequate stocks, including nearly 49 million tonnes of buffer wheat held by the Food Corporation of India. India harvested a record 120.65 million tonnes of wheat in the 2025–26 crop year, while a licence-based system had previously allowed exports of 60 lakh tonnes, of which 2.5 lakh tonnes have been shipped.

Disney is offering a voluntary early-retirement package to longtime senior executives as part of its cost-cutting effort, with additional layoffs planned. The company previously said in April it would eliminate about 1,000 roles and cut several hundred more positions in July, with Pixar and National Geographic among the hardest-hit groups. Disney’s CEO and CFO have recently reiterated that cost optimization will continue as the company prioritizes investment in growth areas such as content, technology and experiences.

BitMine Immersion Technologies bought about $79 million worth of Ethereum, lifting its total holdings to 5,847,611 ETH, or 4.8% of Ethereum’s total supply, close to its 5% target. The company has been adding ETH on a weekly basis since launching its ETH Treasury Strategy on June 30, 2025. The latest purchase helped push BMNR shares up 7%.

Soon after the market opened Monday, a block trade sold almost 116,000 SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) 420-strike call options for $202 million in premium and bought the same amount of 430-strike calls for $144 million. The structure created a $58 million net credit with a breakeven of $425. With GLD around $427, the positioning implies expectations that near-term upside in gold is limited. GLD also saw about $60 million in negative net money flow on the day, according to Nigam Arora, founder of the Arora Report.

New Zealand’s government introduced legislation on Monday that would ban children under 16 from using social media platforms including Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and Facebook. The proposal would allow fines of up to 10 percent of global revenue for companies such as Meta if they fail to take reasonable steps to verify users’ ages. The move targets heavy teen usage, with one in three 13- to 17-year-olds spending at least five hours a day on social media, and aligns New Zealand with a broader push by countries to strengthen online protections for minors.

Cocoa futures in New York and London fell as signs of ample supply weighed on prices. Nigeria’s July cocoa bean exports rose 18% y/y to 16,052 MT, Bloomberg reported. Separate cumulative data showed Ivory Coast farmers shipped 2.11 MMT of cocoa to ports in the current marketing year, up 20% from the same period a year earlier. Ghana’s Cocoa Board estimated the 2026/27 crop at 650,000 MT, down 13% from 750,000 MT last year, while early assessments put the new-season Ivory Coast crop at an average of 1.8 MMT.

PDD Holdings reported adjusted earnings of 19.33 yuan per American depositary receipt, above the 18.51 yuan estimate. Quarterly revenue rose 8% year on year to 112.4bn yuan, missing forecasts. Shares rose about 3.5% in premarket trading in New York. Temu is facing at least three separate regulatory processes in Europe, including a €200mn fine from the European Commission in May over unsafe baby toys and faulty chargers.