If you don’t like the direction of natural gas prices, wait a day. Just one trading session and 24 hours after rallying to a new two-week high at $6.12, natural gas futures tested the other end of the price spectrum Tuesday as sellers took profits and initiated fresh shorts. With no fresh technical news to divert their attention, traders were left to contemplate the possibility for another hefty storage injection when the Energy Information Administration releases that data Thursday. That, coupled with private weather forecasts, which call for temperatures to cool down just as quickly as they have warmed up this week, put bears back at the market’s helm Tuesday.

The price response was swift, with the July contract tumbling 16.6 cents for the session. At $5.697, July finished within striking distance of Tuesday’s $5.66 low and in the bottom half of its recent $5.46-6.12 trading range.

Prices in both the cash and futures market soared Monday on forecasts suggesting it will be warm in the Northeast and Upper Midwest both this week and next. And though the forecast for next week was corroborated by the latest National Weather Service six- to 10-day release Tuesday, the outlook for hot weather for the rest of this week was cast in doubt Tuesday.

The above normal temperatures this week will be short-lived, according to New York-based Weather 2000, which has below normal temperatures back on their short-term temperature maps. While the group’s official July forecast is not available until Friday, Weather 2000 said in a media briefing Tuesday not to expect a dramatic shift from the below normal weather across much of the country for the month of June.

However, Kyle Cooper of Citigroup is quick to note that nominally above or below normal temperatures in early and mid June are not exceptionally bullish or bearish. That being said, he feels that the below normal temperatures the market has experienced are actually market-neutral. However, as the summer progresses and temperatures warm up, a continuation of the recent trend of below normal temperatures will become much more bearish, he reasoned.

Cooper looks for an injection of 107-117 Bcf to be announced by the EIA Thursday morning. Last year this week the market added 81 Bcf and the five-year average is for an 85 Bcf injection.

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