Natural gas futures closed the week lower as the latest storage data — the tightest all summer — was seen as a one-off event amid an otherwise bearish backdrop. With the coming two weeks likely to include only a few days of cool weather, the November Nymex gas futures contract fell 27.7 cents on Friday to $5.410/MMBtu.

forward look

At A Glance:

  • Weather outlook still bearish
  • Wind seen loosening balances
  • Fall temperatures pressure cash

Spot gas prices also retreated ahead of the weekend, with NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. dropping 48.0 cents to $5.080.

The countdown to winter is on. Inventories were not yet painting a clear picture of where they could land at the end of the injection season, so traders on Friday looked to the weather models for direction on where to close out another...