After a brief pause on Thursday, natural gas futures resumed their steep slide to close out the week amid a generally weak near-term outlook. The May Nymex gas futures contract settled Friday at $6.534/MMBtu, off a noteworthy 42.3 cents day/day. June futures fell 43.3 cents to $6.663.

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At A Glance:

  • Bears regain control
  • Chilly temps ahead
  • Cash off

Spot gas prices also tumbled for the three-day gas delivery. Mild temperatures across most of the country sent NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. down 37.0 cents to $6.195.

Despite little change in the overall backdrop, Nymex futures took a meaningful step back over the past few days. After surging to $8.065 high on Monday (April 18), the May contract slid to an intraday low of $6.517 on Friday. For now, bears appeared to be in the...