Mixed

Mixed price movement returned to the market Friday following losses at virtually all points a day earlier, but mostly moderate softness stayed highly dominant.

Following major spikes everywhere to open the trading week, the market was mixed Tuesday but dominated by mostly mild softness. A 34.4-cent giveback by December futures Monday proved more influential to cash traders than the prospects of increasing cold weather later this week.

Mixed price movement returned to the cash market Friday as several points, mostly in the West and Northeast, saw drops ranging from a couple of pennies to a little more than a nickel. But most points continued to record small gains that again depended on a prior-day futures increase and continued to defy modest weather-based load in most areas.

Several scattered flat to as much as about C20 cents higher points kept price movement mixed Tuesday, but not by much. More bearish signals were emerging as only one of the locations that wasn’t softer was up by more than about a nickel, and a moderate majority of the cash market recorded losses ranging from 2-3 cents to about 15 cents.

Most cash market points went back to reporting gains Thursday after mixed action during Wednesday. The strength in cash averages occurred despite the bearish fact that the market had to digest its fifth straight triple-digit natural gas storage report (see related story).

Mixed price movement Wednesday leaned mostly to the downside as overall heating load was forecast to remain relatively light for late February. However, there were more small gains here and there than on Tuesday, signaling that the March futures increase of 13.9 cents that day may have had some supportive impact on Wednesday’s cash market.

Price movement was mixed Monday, but higher quotes clearly outnumbered losses. Heating load was relatively light outside much of the West, leading one source to conclude that cash gains were largely driven by the previous Friday’s 13.2-cent advance by March futures along with an assist from the post-weekend return of industrial demand and modest continuing screen strength Monday morning.

Except for conspicuous spikes at Northeast citygates, price movement was mixed Thursday with most points moving only a few cents up or down. Forecasts of frigid temperatures Friday and continuing into the weekend from the Northeast to the Rockies proved to be more influential than the previous day’s 11.1-cent decline by February futures; the result was a solid majority of rising quotes.

Price movement was mixed Monday, with gains dominating slightly in the Gulf Coast but the rest of the market mostly softer. Except for triple-digit plunges in the Rockies, in most cases points did not stray very far up or down from flat. Forecasts of colder post-holiday weather in most of the East early this week were proving to be overstated, and the storage report-driven spike of 49.2 cents last Wednesday had little impact in supporting most cash trading points.