The streak of cash market up days was ended Friday at four as almost all points fell ahead of the Columbus Day weekend.

After almost every point recorded double-digit gains each day from Monday through Thursday, a vast majority of points declined mostly between 30 and 50 cents on Friday. No one region stood out among the losses as cash averages from the Northeast to the Gulf Coast and across to the West Coast declined similarly.

“The party had to come to an end at some point,” said a New York trader. “After four solid days of cash averages moving significantly higher, more than $2 in some cases, I think the market had to level off a bit and blow off some steam.” He added that the traditional weekend decline in demand tied to industrials likely also factored into Friday’s pullback. “A lot of manufacturers aren’t operating on the weekend, especially in this economy, so the gas isn’t worth what it was midweek.”

The trader said price action as the nation ramps up for the 2009-2010 winter should be “interesting,” especially with record gas storage inventory that will only continue to grow over the next month. On Thursday the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that 69 Bcf was injected into underground working gas for the week ending Oct. 2. EIA data shows there is now 3,658 Bcf in storage.

“We’re already well above the old all-time record of 3,545 Bcf that was set for the week ending Nov. 2, 2007,” the trader said. “The problem for bulls is we still have another month of the injection season to go.”

Cash points on Friday ignored the screen’s modest 5.9-cent gain on Thursday, but it will be interesting to see if the screen’s 19.3-cent loss Friday will be large enough for cash traders to follow. After the Henry Hub-to-November futures deficit spread went from $2.398 on Oct. 2 to just 72.3 cents on Thursday, it widened slightly Friday to 85 cents with futures at $4.77 and the Henry Hub cash average at $3.92.

Citi Futures Perspective analyst Tim Evans commented on the cash spread to futures and how it might be impacting prices.

“The natural gas market is moderately lower [Friday] morning, particularly on the nearby November contract. This may reflect some rollover activity by the bulls moving long positions further out the curve, selling November and buying December or the out months against it,” he said. “However, it could also reflect some degree of acknowledgment that the cash price continues to run at a significant discount to futures, or even some anticipation that the coldest temperatures in the Midwest will occur between now and Monday, with a warming trend to follow, even if temperatures will remains somewhat below normal for the region even through the 11- to 15-day forecast period.”

The 2009 Atlantic hurricane season continues to earn the title of “the season that wasn’t” as one-time Tropical Storm Henri faded to a tropical depression and now a “remnant low” over the open waters of the Atlantic, according to AccuWeather.com. “It continues to weaken as it moves west-northwestward,” the forecasting firm said.

Private forecasting service Frontier Weather said on Friday that Henri will likely track toward the Florida Strait over the next five days before the remnants move in the Gulf of Mexico. No reorganization is currently forecast.

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