A week of firmness in most of the cash market came to an end Wednesday as slight cooling trends in some areas combined with a prior-day screen loss of 9.3 cents to push prices lower at a large majority of points.

An uptick of about 15 cents by the Florida citygate (where highs will still reach the 90s Thursday) and flat numbers at a few other locations were exceptions to overall declines ranging from 2-3 cents to nearly 15 cents. Most of the losses were in single digits.

July futures will resume providing support for the cash market Thursday after rebounding strongly by 17.6 cents Wednesday (see related story) amid overall strength in Nymex’s energy complex.

Malin and the PG&E citygate had managed flat performances Tuesday despite PG&E having a high-inventory OFO in place for the following day. But although the OFO is ending Thursday, both Northern California trading points fell a nickel or so Wednesday.

Stormy weather will keep temperatures subdued Thursday in much of the Midwest. The lower Northeast, while a bit cooler than earlier in the week, will still reach the mid to upper 80s, but most of New England will not exceed either side of 80.

Thunderstorms also are predicted for much of the South, which will help dampen that region’s air conditioning demand to some extent for a while longer. And although the Rockies will be warming into the 80s and parts of the desert Southwest will continue to approach the century mark in high temperatures, cool to moderate conditions are due to dominate the weather outlook for the rest of the western U.S. and Canada.

A Texas-based marketer expressed certainty that Wednesday’s futures rally will result in cash upticks Thursday. He reported seeing some Friday deals for Henry Hub in the $4.43-4.65 range, which would be more than a dime above Wednesday’s cash numbers and slightly higher than the Nymex close.

It is getting a little cooler in the Northeast but the weather there is still fairly hot, the marketer continued. However, regional power generation load for gas is not as strong as it was last month, he said, because spring maintenance for plants fired by other fuels has been winding down in recent weeks.

A Midwest marketer said her company went into June a little shorter on baseload supplies than usual, so it is buying a little spot gas each day “but not liking the prices much.” Clients’ load is getting a bit lighter as the Midwest cools off slightly from recent heat, she said, adding that a couple of days of rain have helped in that regard.

The National Weather Service (NWS) predicts above-normal temperatures during the June 7-11 workweek everywhere south of a line curving generally to the east-southeast from northwest California to northern Georgia and southern South Carolina. In its six- to 10-day forecast posted Tuesday afternoon, NWS looks for below-normal readings north of a line from western Montana southeastward into the southern end of Illinois, most of Kentucky and the northern edge of Virginia.

Southern Natural Gas said its working gas inventory in storage was 36 Bcf as of last Thursday, or 60% of its total 60 Bcf capacity. That lags the pipeline’s May 28, 2009 volume of 45.8 Bcf (76%) but is ahead of the 32.2 Bcf (54%) report for May 29, 2008.

IAF Advisors analyst Kyle Cooper expects a storage addition of 90 Bcf for the week ending May 28, saying that would fall short of comparable year-ago, three-year average and five-year average volumes of 124 Bcf, 112 Bcf and 100 Bcf, respectively. Stephen Smith of Stephen Smith Energy Associates replaced his original storage build estimate of 85 Bcf with one of 91 Bcf.

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