Momentum

Downward momentum from Thursday’s weakness bled into the overnight trading session as December natural gas futures plunged into the $6.70s and $6.80s in early Friday morning trade and maintained that price level for the entire regular session. Prompt-month natural gas ended up closing at $6.757, down 22.2 cents from Thursday but only 2.6 cents lower than the previous week’s finish.

The recent bullish momentum in natural gas futures continued on Tuesday as December natural gas futures punched north of $7 to close at $7.219, up 38.1 cents from Monday’s close. Unlike on Monday, crude futures moved in the same direction Tuesday as the December contract added $6.62 to close at $70.53/bbl.

Despite the near-record level of natural gas in underground storage, December natural gas futures maintained Friday’s momentum to push higher on Monday as the contract gained 5.5 cents to close at $6.838. The move was especially peculiar because crude futures — which have been recently aligned with natural gas — saw the December contract drop $3.90 on the day to close at $63.91/bbl.

After December futures gave back 34.7 cents on Thursday, bearish traders looking to capitalize on the momentum on Halloween felt more tricked than treated. Whether it was a result of bearish weather fundamentals weakening or just traders playing the recent range, the front-month contract ended up closing at $6.783 on Friday, up 35.2 cents from Thursday and 32.1 cents higher than the previous week’s close.

Riding the bullish momentum that was introduced Tuesday, November natural gas futures roared higher on expiration Wednesday, putting in a high of $6.580 before going off the board at $6.469, up 28.3 cents from Tuesday’s close. Picking up the mantle as front-month contract, December futures added 36.2 cents on the day to finish at $6.778.

Discussions by the world’s leading natural gas exporters to form a “gas OPEC” lost momentum this week as some major producers disassociated themselves from the idea at a conference in Madrid, Dow Jones Newswires reported Wednesday.

Taking momentum from Monday’s session, August natural gas streaked higher in Tuesday morning trading to record a high of $13.610. Mimicking Monday’s 15.5-cent gain, the prompt-month contract added a similar 15.2 cents Tuesday to finish the regular session at $13.505.

Riding momentum from the July contract’s bullish expiration Thursday, the August natural gas futures contract, in its first prompt-month action, broke the previous high for the up move with a $13.428 trade before a late round of short-covering forced a close of $13.198, down a nickel from Thursday’s close but 8.5 cents higher than the previous week’s finish.

Downward price momentum from Tuesday spilled over into trade on Wednesday as natural gas futures flirted with support in the mid $12.60s. One day before expiration, the July contract recorded a low of $12.654 before closing out the regular session at $12.753, down 25.8 cents from Tuesday’s finish.