Overnight

After dipping to a new low for the move at $3.049 repeatedly in overnight Globex trade, September natural gas futures rebounded a bit during Wednesday’s regular session. Falling just short of sub-$3 prices for the first time since the same week of 2002, the prompt-month contract ended up closing the day’s session at $3.119, up 2.3 cents from Tuesday’s close.

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.

Marginalizing the bearish damage done on Thursday, traders — after bouncing off of support just below $11.500 in the overnight session — pushed natural gas futures 22.9 cents higher on Friday to close at $11.703. The week, which saw June futures expire at $11.916 on Wednesday, also saw the July contract close 27.8 cents lower than the previous Friday’s finish.

After plumbing lower price levels in overnight electronic trade and again on Wednesday morning, June natural gas futures made another run at $12 Wednesday afternoon as the contract recorded a high on the day of $11.975 before backing off to expire at $11.916, up 11.5 cents from Tuesday’s finish. July futures, which now assume front-month contract status, put in a high of $12.082 before settling at $11.995, up 7.6 cents from Tuesday’s close.

After trading higher in the overnight Sunday Globex session, May natural gas futures burst even higher during Monday’s regular session, recording a high of $11.360 before going off the board at $11.280, up 31.7 cents from Friday’s close. With the May contract expired, attention now turns to June futures, which peaked at $11.455 on Monday before settling at $11.329, up 22.8 cents from Friday’s close.

With freezing overnight lows having settled themselves into the Midwest and Northeast at least temporarily and even some Southern cities dipping into the 30s, most points were able to rebound Monday from the previous Friday’s across the board losses.

Traders continued to flush out weakness in the October natural gas futures contract in the overnight Thursday electronic trading session, which left the action on Friday muted. After trading within a thin $5.470 to $5.545 range during Friday’s regular session, the prompt month finished out the week at $5.501, down 14.9 cents on the day but 3.3 cents higher than the previous Friday’s close.

Traders were greeted with a nonsupportive weather picture in Sunday’s overnight trading session and the response was even lower natural gas futures prices. With the lack of real heat or tropical storm activity, the September contract gapped lower on Monday’s open and recorded a low of $5.230 during the day before closing at $5.380, down 14.3 cents from Friday’s close.

After trading lower in the overnight session, June natural gas bulls were dealt another small blow Thursday morning as the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that a healthy 87 Bcf was injected into underground storage for the week ended April 27. However, the horns were showing again in the afternoon as the prompt month recorded an $8 high before closing at $7.947, up 21.7 cents from Wednesday.