Probe

Despite the nearly nationwide warm-up expected for the Jan. 18-22 week, the February natural gas futures contract departed from Thursday’s weakness to probe the upside Friday. The prompt-month contract traded into the low $5.70s before closing the regular session at $5.691, up 10.3 cents from Thursday’s finish but 5.8 cents lower than the previous week’s close.

October natural gas futures continued to probe upside resistance after the long holiday weekend, but for at least one market observer, the move higher “lacked enthusiasm.” The front-month contract climbed 7.9 cents Tuesday to close at $2.807.

Natural gas futures continued to probe lower values on Tuesday, but market experts wonder whether the downward move that began last summer might actually be coming to an end. For its part, the April contract put in a low of $3.761 before closing Tuesday’s regular session at $3.812, down 3.8 cents from Monday’s finish.

Despite the arrival of colder-than-normal temperatures, natural gas futures continued to probe the downside Friday as an abundance of storage and an expected warm-up in mid-December turned out to be enough to keep the bears on a roll. January natural gas futures closed lower for a fourth consecutive session at $7.302, down 15 cents on the day and 70.9 cents lower than the previous week’s close. The December contract expired Wednesday at $7.203.

A bearish natural gas storage draw report allowed natural gas futures to probe lower price levels once again on Thursday as the commodity was able to ignore the wild ride in crude futures, which was sparked higher by a deadly pipeline blast. January natural gas futures, in its first regular session action as front month, closed at $7.452, down 3.4 cents from Wednesday.

Adding to its 52.4-cent drop on Monday, April natural gas on Tuesday continued to probe lower in search of support. The contract set a high for the day of $6.800 in the morning and recorded a $6.580 low in the afternoon before settling at $6.714, down 7.5 cents on the day.

A few instances of flat to moderately higher pricing showed up in the West, but an overwhelming majority of the cash market continued to probe lower levels Tuesday as traders returned from Christmas holiday. Widespread mild weather and the extension of natural gas futures plunges into their third day Tuesday weighed heavily on cash quotes.

After hitting its head on a $7.85 ceiling Monday, May natural gas futures used the afternoon to probe for support. The prompt month ended the day down 15.5 cents at $7.594, just a few cents shy of Monday’s $7.56 low.

After being called significantly lower in overnight Access trading, April natural gas futures appeared ready to probe support lines, reaching a low on Tuesday of $6.55 in morning trading. However, the prompt month spent the rest of the session pulling itself back up to settle at $6.68, down only 5 cents on the day.