Amid deepening fears that the U.S. economy is headed for a recession, and exacerbated by light trading volume following a bomb threat at Nymex, natural gas futures tumbled to new 19-month lows Tuesday, as institutional traders increased their short exposure. Almost uniform selling was seen across the entire strip of contracts, pressuring the winter strip down 15 cents to $2.99 and the 12-month strip down 13 cents to $2.97. The October contract closed at $2.225, down 14.4 cents for the session.

A bomb threat forced the evacuation of the New York Mercantile Exchange at about 9:50 a.m. (EDT) Tuesday, 45 minutes before the scheduled start of open-outcry pit trading at the Exchange. The October contract was called to open in the high $2.20s, down almost a dime from Monday’s $2.369 close.

Nymex resumed trading at 11:30 a.m. EDT, but security checkpoints slowed many traders’ return to the trading pit at One North End Avenue. Also contributing to the paucity of trading liquidity Tuesday was the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah that kept some floor traders at home. Following the restart, the October contract immediately broke to a new 19-month low at $2.22 before 1 p.m.

Looking ahead, traders could receive another bearish dose of news this afternoon when the American Gas Association announces fresh storage data. Injection estimates ahead of that report range as high as 100 Bcf, which if realized would dwarf last year’s comparable figure of 67 Bcf and the five-year average of 77 Bcf.

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