Screen

Screen, some remaining cold weather help boost most cash points slightly.

Screen, some remaining cold weather help boost most cash points slightly.

Moderating weather, along with screen dive and weekend factor, soften the cash market.

Moderating weather, along with screen dive and weekend factor, soften the cash market.

The screen gain of 14.2 cents a day earlier helped the continuing cold weather in several regions to boost prices in nearly all of the cash market Thursday. Lows in the 20s and teens remained in the Friday forecast for a majority of locations in the Northeast, Midwest, Upper Plains, Rockies and Western Canada. Eastern Canada was getting even colder conditions, with lows on either side of 10 predicted for Montreal and Toronto.

It was no surprise to anyone seeing prices fall by major amounts across the board Friday. Despite modest support from the previous day’s screen rise of 5.7 cents, the lack of weather-based demand and the usual weekend decline of industrial load were a considerable depressant on the cash market.

Shrugging off prior-day screen weakness, natural gas cash market points on Wednesday for Thursday delivery linked together a third consecutive day of across-the-board gains, with most points adding between 38 and 60 cents.

Weak guidance from Tuesday’s screen kept almost all cash points headed lower on Wednesday despite indications that the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season might soon arrive.

The arrival of real summer heat tied with overwhelming prior-day screen support helped push the nation’s cash market points unanimously higher Tuesday for the second consecutive day. Most gains across the country ranged 30-50 cents.