Recorded

Due to an adjustment in reserves to cover its potential liability in an ongoing royalties lawsuit, NiSource Inc. recorded a second quarter net loss of more than $200 million. The company’s net earnings from continuing operations were on the plus side but they were below year-ago results for the quarter, with natural gas and power distribution down and transmission and storage showing an increase.

After regrouping the previous two sessions as August natural gas futures recorded a gain of 3.3 cents and a drop of 6 cents, respectively, the bears were on the prowl again on Tuesday as the prompt-month contract had 44.3 cents sliced from its value. The contract dipped below $10 on Tuesday before closing at $10.067 while August crude also got back to its recent bearish ways by dropping $3.09 to finish at $127.95/bbl.

Natural gas futures continued to test lower price levels Wednesday as the August contract recorded a low of $11.113 before rebounding to close at $11.398, still good for a 7.9-cent drop from Tuesday’s close. The market appeared to be quite comfortable with following spiraling crude values lower.

While July natural gas futures recorded lofty gains of their own, the commodity on Friday once again took a back seat to big brother crude, which saw the July futures contract gain an astounding $10.75 to close out the day’s regular session at a record $138.54/bbl. July natural gas continued to hone in on the $13/MMBtu price level by gaining 17.4 cents Friday to close at $12.693, up 99 cents from the contract’s finish in the previous week.

Moving once again in lockstep with crude prices, June natural gas futures on Monday recorded a morning high of $11.598 before crashing late in the session. During the last half hour of the regular session, the prompt month dropped from $11.479 to a low of $11.249 before closing out the session at $11.301, down 23.6 cents from Friday’s finish.

Tuesday’s cash trading market had a slightly larger number of points that were flat or recorded small gains than it did falling ones, but the losses were much larger in many cases, particularly in the West. Except for cold weather persisting in the Pacific Northwest, the market was losing cooling load in several other areas, and 80s highs in the South were limited to its central and western sections and Florida, with the coastal states from Georgia through Virginia largely limited to peaking temperatures in the low to mid 70s.

May natural gas futures on Friday stunned some market watchers as it recorded a lower high, a lower low and a lower close than Thursday’s session despite a laundry list of bullish factors swirling around the market. The prompt month traded between $9.830 and $10.045 before closing at $9.901, down 19.7 cents from Thursday but still 57.9 cents higher than the previous week’s finish.

Pummeled by a prior-day futures plunge and losing both heating and cooling load, cash prices recorded losses at all points Wednesday.

With Tuesday lows forecast to keep approaching or going below the freezing level in the Northeast and Midwest, spot prices recorded double-digit gains at all points Monday. The return of industrial load from its holiday weekend decline and the previous Thursday’s 4.1-cent increase by April futures also provided small measures of support for the cash market.