Rallied

Despite the lack of trading volume due to the shortened week in between holidays, January natural gas futures on Tuesday rallied 10.4 cents on the day to expire at $4.216. February futures, which is the new prompt-month contract, added 13.3 cents to close at $4.288.

Hundreds of Houston-area natural gas and oil employees — most bussed in by their bosses — rallied last Wednesday during their lunch hours to protest the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM) moratorium and to shout down possible new taxes on the industry.

Hundreds of Houston-area natural gas and oil employees — most bussed in by their bosses — rallied on Wednesday during their lunch hours to protest the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM) moratorium and to shout down possible new taxes on the industry.

September natural gas futures briefly rallied Thursday following the release of seemingly supportive inventory data but quickly reversed and ended up in the loss column. September futures fell 14.3 cents to $3.336 and October lost 9.4 cents to $3.673. September crude oil rose 36 cents to $70.52/bbl.

After coming within spitting distance on Monday of the $3.155 low for the move recorded on April 27, August natural gas futures rallied a bit on Tuesday as a fair amount of short-covering came into the market. The prompt-month contract gained 16.6 cents Tuesday to close at $3.429.

Stock markets around the world rallied Friday following an announcement by the Bush administration of what could end up being a trillion-dollar bailout of banks by American taxpayers. Still unknown is whether the financial sector’s misery will migrate to energy markets.

Nearly all points rallied Monday due to a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and torrid heat levels continuing across nearly all of the southern half of the U.S. The modest 3.3-cent gain Friday by August futures and the return of industrial load from its weekend downturn were other factors in the overall bullishness.

Prices rallied by mostly small amounts at a majority of points Thursday, deriving support from the previous day’s 9.1-cent screen gain, a smidgen of heating load in the Rockies and areas near the Canadian border, and not much else. Moderate mid-October temperatures dominate much of the weather picture, and evidence continues to mount that storage injection capacity has grown very scarce.

October natural gas futures traded in a wide range on Tuesday as bears plumbed support lines before the contract rallied back in the afternoon. The prompt month traded between $6.195 and $6.570 before settling at $6.568, down 8.5 cents from Monday’s close.