Races

Natural gas futures were off to the races Monday as concerns about prolonged heat and potential tropical storm development overtook the market. The August natural gas contract, which expires Thursday, jumped 46.6 cents over Friday’s close to settle at $6.605.

Due in part to the arrival of new storm activity in the Atlantic Basin, September natural gas on Monday was off to the races, notching a high of $9.84 two separate times just before 1 p.m. EDT. However, the prompt month was unable to match its $9.91 high from two weeks ago and trailed off later in the afternoon.

It was off to the races again in the Northeast Monday as multi-dollar spikes occurred at most citygates. But such strength was at odds with the general market, which showed a moderate bias to the upside in a mix of averages that ranged to about 20 cents up or down from flat.

Natural gas futures were off to the races Monday morning as traders weighed the virtual certainty that Hurricane Lili would become the second storm in a week to impact production in the Gulf of Mexico. After gapping higher at the opening bell, the November contract quickly moved to a new four-month high (Access trading excluded) at $4.195 Monday morning. After dipping slightly to settle for the regular session at $4.138, the November contract was rebounding in overnight access trading. At 7:00 p.m. EDT, it last traded $4.194, up 5.6 cents from its close.

It was off to the races Tuesday for spot prices, as a soaring screen paced the cash market to large gains. Except for the Rockies and Southern California border, nearly all other points managed to surpass the November futures advance of a little more than 21 cents. The run-ups were attributed largely to a noted meteorologist’s forecast that the coming winter will rank among the top third of the coldest over the last 106 years (see related story).

Much like Charismatic, winner of the Preakness and the KentuckyDerby,the futures market was off to the races Monday. Afteropening slightly more than a penny below Friday’s settlement price,the futures market spiked dramatically higher in the first hour oftrading as local buying pushed the market through last week’s$2.315 high. June continued higher yesterday afternoon, finishingup 5.5 cents to $2.343.

People saw the screen start higher Monday morning and “everybodywas off to the races,” a Midcontinent marketer said. Priceincreases were across the board but by widely varying amounts, evenamong neighboring pipes in a region. Everything basically followedthe Henry Hub futures contract, according to a Northeast trader.However, he and other sources agreed that virtually every point wasbacking off near the end of activity. “People just quit buyingafter the screen run-up,” he said.