Gapping

After gapping lower on the opening bell, natural gas futuressifted lower Friday as traders continued the sell-off that begantwo and a half weeks ago. With Friday’s $4.541 settlement, theNovember contract concluded its tenure as prompt month on adecidedly negative note, down 12.3 cents on the day and $1.24 offits Oct. 12 high-water mark.

After gapping lower on the open, natural gas prices continueddownward Monday amid weakness in crude oil prices and continuedmild temperatures expected this week and next. Bears saved theirbest for last and punctuated yesterday’s price statement with a4-cent sell-off in the last five minutes of trading. The Novembercontract closed at $5.364, down 17.3 for the session.

After gapping higher on the open and racing to new highs,natural gas futures were hit with a powerful wave of selling latein the session that trimmed most of yesterday’s gains and lefttraders wondering if more selling is in store for the market on itsexpiration day today.

After gapping up an impressive 2.5 cents at the open yesterday,natural gas futures chopped higher throughout the session astraders grappled with the potential of prices climbing even higherthis summer. The May contract reached its $3.15 high for the dayshortly after 2:30 P.M. (EST), only to tumble lower to settle at$3.137 amid a flurry of market-on-close selling. Estimated volumewas light with only 57,253 contracts changing hands.

After gapping 4 cents lower on the open Thursday, the May HenryHub futures contract quickly prompted eager buying as locals andfunds jumped in to take advantage of the downturn. The contractjumped all the way to a new three-month high of $2.090 beforeprofit-taking triggered a sharp retracement. May ended Thursday’sregular session up 2.5 cents from Wednesday’s close.

After gapping higher at the open yesterday and reaching as highas $1.915/MMBtu during the day, the April contract was able tomanage only a small 0.6-cent gain for the day, telling someobservers the contract has lost its vigor after the rapid 22.5-centclimb last week. April opened at $1.905, up significantly fromFriday’s settle of $1.853, but it lost steam at $1.92 during themorning and fell back to about $1.86. During afternoon trading, thecontract bounced back up to $1.90 before falling back down to fillthe gap and close the day at $1.859.

After gapping lower at the open for the second day in a row,natural gas futures continued to free-fall in lackluster holidaytrading Monday. Weak cash market pricing and a quicklydeteriorating technical picture were cited as reasons for the10.2-cent decline in the November contract. By settling at $2.089,November has dropped over 30 cents in the last three tradingsessions.

The futures market wasted little time in continuing higherMonday, gapping higher on the open en route to a technicalcorrection that left the September contract up 16.4 cents to settleat $2.041. Sources said Monday’s rally was follow-through buying onthe heels of Friday’s strong close coupled with “nervousspeculators” covering sizeable short positions. Estimated volumeconfirmed the active trading with an estimated 83,239 contractschanging hands.