Appeared

After starting Monday with what appeared to be $9 intentions, September natural gas futures did a 180-degree turn just after noon EDT, plunging 37 cents from its $8.87 high to record an $8.50 trade. However, that level set off the buy alarm as the prompt month climbed back up to settle at $8.684, down 1.6 cents for the day.

Trading within a fairly thin range on Tuesday, July natural gas futures notched a high of $7.580 and a low of $7.435 before settling at $7.474, down 19.6 cents for the day. Natural gas futures appeared to be loosely following crude’s action during the session, where the petroleum contract seemed to dip, recover, then dip again.

Trading within an extra thin 6-cent range, June natural gas futures on Friday appeared to be taking the day off to regroup. After trading just above or below Thursday’s settle for the entire session, the prompt month ended up settling at $6.343, down 1.4 cents on the day and 19.3 cents lower for the week.

Trading within a slim 10-cent range for the session, June natural gas appeared to be having a hard time choosing a direction on Monday. After rebounding off support in the $6.595 to $6.60 area a number of times during the session, the prompt month resolved to explore higher instead. Following a late session push that coincided with a strong move in petroleum futures, June natural gas finished Monday at $6.674, up 5.3 cents.

After showing strength for a majority of Monday’s session, May natural gas futures appeared to be ready to continue Friday’s upswing. However, met with some long liquidation and influence from the petroleum futures complex, the prompt month began to sell off in the afternoon, settling down 4.2 cents at $7.153, just above the $7.14 low of the day.

Kerr-McGee Corp.’s proxy battle with financier Carl Icahn and his associates appeared to come to an end last week, but the settlement announced Thursday came at a steep price. The producer said it will buy back $4 billion worth of stock at an all-time high, and announced a plan to sell off “select” U.S. onshore, Gulf of Mexico and North Sea assets, which represent 20-25% of current production and 10-15% of proved reserves.

After bumping their head on the $7.34 level twice during the session, April natural gas futures on Tuesday ultimately appeared to be intimidated by the significant weakness displayed by big brother crude.

After being called significantly lower in overnight Access trading, April natural gas futures appeared ready to probe support lines, reaching a low on Tuesday of $6.55 in morning trading. However, the prompt month spent the rest of the session pulling itself back up to settle at $6.68, down only 5 cents on the day.

Senate confirmation of Energy Secretary nominee Samuel Bodman, which appeared to be on track to occur last Wednesday, is expected to take place today (Jan. 31), a press aide for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee said.