After another week of turbulent swings in the natural gas market, bulls and bears appeared ready to take a breather on Friday. November Nymex gas futures still gyrated in a more than 30-cent range, but were poised to settle nearly flat on the day before a late-session sell-off ended with the contract off 11.2 cents day/day at $5.565/MMBtu. December slipped 10.7 cents to $5.710.

markets

At A Glance:

  • Natural gas futures lower again
  • Global factors still in play
  • Cash falls again

Spot gas prices continued to retreat, with the typical decline in weekend demand accompanying a mild weather outlook. Led by sharp decreases on the East and West coasts, NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. plunged 32.0 cents to $5.125.

The softness in the futures and cash markets at the end of the week was a...