Gravitate

Natural gas futures extended to new two-week highs Thursday on the surprising news that 9 Bcf was withdrawn from underground storage facilities last week. Bulls were quick to react to the data, and were responsible for propelling the market 17 cents higher in the five minutes following the 10:30 a.m. EDT release. The market continued to chop higher in the late morning and afternoon in an extremely active session that saw more than 90,000 contracts change hands. May finished at $5.419, up 22.4 cents for the day.