Plodded

As a compromise bill to impose an impact fee on unconventional natural gas plodded through the Pennsylvania legislature Tuesday, Gov. Tom Corbett assumed a favorable outcome, commending lawmakers for their cooperation, saying he was “looking forward to signing the legislation into law.”

Volatility continued at the Nymex Tuesday as natural gas futures prices plodded higher in sympathy with surging prices in the nearby crude oil pit. After an initial push to the downside failed to crack the $4.70 level, local traders were active buyers and had little trouble goosing the prompt month into a healthy, late-day rally.

Pressured by a triumvirate of bearish factors — weather,technicals and cash prices — natural gas futures plodded lower inan abbreviated, pre-holiday session Friday as weak longs continuedto shed their positions. However, instead of liquidating theirlongs entirely, traders elected to roll their prompt holdings intoout months. At the closing bell, the February contract was 23.6cents lower at $8.472 while the summer strip (Apr.-Oct.) was 6.7cents higher on the day at $6.085.

Building on gains achieved in the Tuesday night Access tradingsession, natural gas futures plodded higher yesterday morningbefore spiking dramatically just minutes after fresh storage newswas released. The December contract rocketed to a high of $4.75 andultimately settled at $4.686, a 19.6-cent gain for the session.Estimated volume of 85,529 was evidence of the frenzied buyingactivity.

After opening on a soft note following last Thursday’s latesell-off, natural gas futures plodded higher for the sixth Fridayin a row, as traders once again shied away from the short side ofthe market ahead of the weekend. The October contract advanced 5.3cents to close at $4.853, but even more impressive was the winterstrip, which advanced an average of 6.1 cents to finish at $4.76.

Adding to double-digit gains achieved Wednesday, the futuresmarket plodded higher Thursday when short-covering activity boostedprices in light, pre-holiday trading. The move left February with atwo-day gain of 16.4 cents, a feat January could not muster duringits entire reign as prompt month.