Flat

Prices were flat to up a little more than 20 cents in most of the cash market Tuesday. The mild softness tended to congregate at Louisiana, Alabama/Mississippi and Northeast points. One source said storage buying must still be in vogue, because the physical market had support neither from a prior-day screen drop nor from weather that remains fairly mild outside a hot southern half of Texas and desert Southwest.

A Tuesday gain of 5.1 cents by June natural gas futures proved unable to sustain that day’s cash rally through Wednesday. A few flat to slightly higher points averted a solid front of bearishness, but for the most part cash prices saw generally small declines Wednesday. A slow rise in the South’s air conditioning demand, which had received some credit for the Tuesday rally, was no longer able to offset the continuing lack of heating load in the northern half of the U.S.

Prices continued to fall in most cases Wednesday, but a few western points were flat to slightly higher as supplies in that region remain a little tighter than elsewhere. The majority softness was chiefly attributed to pleasant weather forecast for Thursday in nearly every area and to the screen’s dive of just over 30 cents on Tuesday.

Prices at a few scattered locations were flat to slightly lower Tuesday, but most of the cash market recorded gains ranging from a little less than a nickel to a quarter; most were in double digits. The gains were attributed largely to continued demand for storage injections with the traditional injection season still less than two weeks old.

Many points were close to flat Monday in a mixed market that leaned mostly to the downside. The return of industrial load from a weekend slump and what is suspected to be thriving demand for early storage refills were pitted against mild weather fundamentals and the previous Friday’s 22.9-cent screen dive as primary cash trading influences.

With the exception of several scattered flat to lower points that were concentrated in the Midwest and Louisiana, prices continued to rise at a large majority of points Tuesday.

Although there were several scattered flat to lower prices in Tuesday’s cash market, most points rallied in defiance of milder weather trends and prior-day screen weakness.

Only a few flat to barely higher western points averted a clean sweep of softening in cash prices Thursday. A small prior-day screen decline joined already-negative weather and storage influences in putting downward pressure on the market.

Softness lingered at some points, but most of the cash market was flat to as much as a quarter higher Friday. The overall rally from Thursday’s big declines was spurred by the market’s anticipation of the first significant heating load in more than a month showing up over the weekend.