Recording

After recording a somewhat bearish trading day Tuesday, natural gas futures were back running with the bulls on Wednesday as the June contract recorded a new high for the move at $11.387 before settling at $11.327, up 17.7 cents from Tuesday’s close.

After trading higher in the overnight Sunday Globex session, May natural gas futures burst even higher during Monday’s regular session, recording a high of $11.360 before going off the board at $11.280, up 31.7 cents from Friday’s close. With the May contract expired, attention now turns to June futures, which peaked at $11.455 on Monday before settling at $11.329, up 22.8 cents from Friday’s close.

January natural gas futures resumed their assault on $7 price support in Monday trade, recording a low of $7.010 before closing out the day at $7.032, down 12.3 cents from Friday’s finish. While traders were debating storage levels and weather forecasts, they were also forced to account for the possibility of an out of season tropical storm, which was gaining strength east of Puerto Rico.

December natural gas futures on Tuesday continued exploring lower price levels, recording a low of $7.460 before settling at $7.477, down 31 cents from Monday.

Following a week of strong gains, December natural gas futures underwent some consolidation on Friday, recording a low of $8.355 before closing out the week at $8.418, down 21.9 cents from Thursday but 61 cents higher than the previous Friday’s close. The November contract expired Monday at $7.269.

Taking its cue in part from Friday’s significant natural gas futures drop, most cash points averages on Monday followed suit, recording drops of a few pennies up to approximately 75 cents. The few gains were recorded out West, where a “very warm pattern” settled in over the weekend.

With natural gas futures recording a small rebound Tuesday, traders were debating whether the market had seen a bottom on the charts or just another round of short-covering before testing even lower depths. As expiration loomed one day away, the September contract on Tuesday traded between $5.425 and $5.720 before closing at $5.593, up 21.3 cents from Monday.

Keying off mixed futures market activity on Friday, the cash market on Monday continued its recent trend of “following the screen,” recording a mixture of gains and losses across the country. While the East and West recorded mostly gains, some as high as half-a-dollar, the rest of the country’s regions produced a wide range of ups and downs.

Building on Friday’s losses, August natural gas futures gapped 28.6 cents lower at the open Monday and continued to work downward, recording a new low for the move at $6.010 before closing at $6.039, down 40.7 cents on the day.