Pressured

Pressured by another wave of follow-through selling, natural gas futures funneled lower for the second day in a row Wednesday, as traders grappled with negative technicals and continued to factor in a bearish storage report. A late rebound trimmed the day’s losses, leaving the prompt May contract with a 10-cent decline at $5.148.

Pressured by weakness in early morning over-the-counter trading,natural gas futures gapped lower on the open for the second sessionin a row Monday as traders were once again presented with a priceoutlook devoid of bullish fundamental news. However, unlike theprice action last Friday in which prices sifted lower throughoutthe day, yesterday’s market was constructive as prices workedhigher after finding support at the key $5.00 level. The Aprilcontract finished strongly, up 8.7 cents to close at $5.159.

Pressured by selling in Thursday night’s Access trading session,natural gas futures broke to the bottom of its recent trading rangeFriday as sellers liquidated positions ahead of the weekend. Aftergapping lower at the open, the price action was almost entirely inbears’ favor. A brief and ultimately insignificant rally attemptshortly after noon (EST) was all bulls could muster and as a resultprices were left to finish the day on their lows. The Aprilcontract was the hardest hit, dropping 21.3 cents to close at$5.072.

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.

Pressured by follow-through selling on the heels of Wednesday’sstorage report, and amid crashing cash market values, the naturalgas futures market tumbled lower Thursday as weak longs continuedto head for the exits. After gapping lower at the open, theFebruary contract checked sideways-to-lower throughout the day tofinish at $8.708, down 42 cents on the session.

Pressured by a steady stream of local and fund selling, naturalgas futures slid lower yesterday amid an improving winter storageoutlook and continued mild temperatures across the nation. TheNovember contract took it squarely on the chin, dropping 25.2 centsto close at $4.82, almost a dollar below its Oct. 12 high.

Pressured lower by weaker crude oil futures along with a saggingphysical market, natural gas at the New York Mercantile Exchangewas softer Thursday with buyers on the sidelines, unwilling to addto their already hefty longs. After chopping lower for most of thesession the October contract received a late boost on renewedhurricane fears. However those late gains were more than offset byearly losses and that left the prompt month in negative territory,off 3.1 cents at $5.287 at the close yesterday.

The futures market was pressured lower Tuesday as sellers sentthe February contract tumbling back down to support clustered inthe $1.73-74 area. But once again the move failed to produce a newcontract low, which set off a short-covering rally that bid theprompt month higher just prior to the close. February settled at$1.817, a fraction of a penny off its high for the day and 2.1cents higher than last week’s closing price.

Choppy trading continued at the New York Mercantile Exchangeyesterday as the futures market was pressured lower early, only tocome roaring back in the afternoon. The February contract finishedup 3.9 cents to $1.809.