Movement

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

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.

Not content with the prior session’s punch below the psychological $3 price level to a seven-year low, the bearish natural gas futures movement found follow-through on Friday to notch a new low for the move at $2.776 before closing out the day at $2.804, down 14.1 cents from Thursday and 43.4 cents lower than the previous week’s finish.

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.

The cash market saw approximately evenly mixed movement Monday, with prices largely taking their cues from regional forecasts of either colder weather Tuesday or continued moderate conditions. It also responded to the conflicting influences of the previous Friday’s 14.3-cent loss by April futures and industrial load returning from its usual weekend decline.

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.

Monday’s price movement saw a reversal of geographic orientation from the previous Friday. On Monday it was the East that was mostly softer, while most western points rallied from Friday’s overall declines. Freezing temperatures were still in the forecast for Tuesday from the Northeast through the Midcontinent/Midwest and Great Plains into the Rockies, but relatively moderate weather is in play across the southern tier of states.

It appeared that the overall cash market was stronger Wednesday due to losses at most points a day earlier giving way to a mix of mostly small movement up or down, with gains decidedly outnumbering losses. However, spikes at Northeast citygates Tuesday had shifted into reverse, with multi-dollar plunges at all of the Northeast delivery points Wednesday.