futures

With little in the way of fresh news on either the technical orfundamental front, natural gas prices took the path of leastresistance yesterday, slipping lower but settling above key supportat $3.80. After plumbing its lowest point in two months at $3.79shortly after 2 p.m. (EST), the August contract finished stronglyto settle at $3.86, down 2.4 cents on the day.

The cash market used Friday’s futures advance, along withexpectations of hotter weather this week, as a springboard toachieve across-the-board gains in double digits Monday.

Taking a cue from the July contract, which tumbled in anexpiration-day sell-off, August began its tenure as prompt month byslipping lower yesterday morning as traders continued to look pasta bullish storage situation to focus on bearish short-term demandoutlooks. But just like other moves lower in recent weeks,yesterday’s retracement was short-lived and by 11:15 a.m. (EDT)buyers had promoted the near-month back into positive territory onthe day.

Those who had expected cash bullishness to continue Wednesday,based on the July futures contract’s move to previously unknownheights on the previous day, were in for a big disappointment.Wednesday’s screen achieved most of its drastic downturn while cashwas still trading. And while hot weather remained fairly severe onthe West Coast, it cooled off considerably in the Northeast.

After testing, but not breaching stubborn resistance at $4.60Thursday, natural gas futures tumbled lower Friday as traderselected to take profits ahead of the weekend. The near-month Julycontract was hit with two distinct selling waves during the firsthour of trading Friday, setting the tone for a session in which thecontract slipped 10.3 cents to finish at $4.448.

Building on modest gains achieved yesterday morning, the futuresmarket rocketed more than 20 cents higher Wednesday afternoon uponthe release of yet another bullish storage report. Finishing 27.1cents stronger at $4.378, the prompt July contract retraced morethan half of its Monday price slide yesterday and now stands closerto the upper limit of its $3.80-$4.60 trading range.

Gas producers must be wringing their hands in glee as futuresprices topped $4.50/MMBtu on Friday, but some of their customersclearly are a little less than overjoyed. High gas prices areforcing some fertilizer producers to consider shutting down theirplants and selling their feedstock on the open market just to makeends meet.

Gas producers must be wringing their hands in glee as futuresprices top $4.45/MMBtu, but some of their customers clearly are alittle less than overjoyed. High gas prices are forcing somefertilizer producers to consider shutting down their plants andselling their feedstock on the open market just to make ends meet.

Judging from the huge dip in futures prices last Wednesday, themarket apparently didn’t get wind of a new, more bullish hurricaneseason forecast by renowned hurricane prognosticator Dr. WilliamGray and his team of soothsayers at Colorado State University.