Slim

Trading within a slim 10-cent range for the session, June natural gas appeared to be having a hard time choosing a direction on Monday. After rebounding off support in the $6.595 to $6.60 area a number of times during the session, the prompt month resolved to explore higher instead. Following a late session push that coincided with a strong move in petroleum futures, June natural gas finished Monday at $6.674, up 5.3 cents.

As sources had predicted, the cash market resumed falling Tuesday following Monday’s modest rebounds. Mild to cool weather from the East through the Rockies, along with the next-day impact from faltering energy futures on Monday, were cited as chief factors in the softening that is expected to continue at least through the coming weekend.

As anticipated, the bears regained firm control of the cash market Friday following a flat to mildly softer Thursday. They had little trouble in doing so, aided by the previous day’s screen dive in response to the storage report, unseasonably mild weather throughout much of the East, and the slump in industrial load that typically accompanies a weekend. Even a weekend burst of highs reaching the low 90s in parts of the Northeast was unable to avert drops of 20 cents-plus at regional citygates.

As tropical depression six fizzled into a tropical wave with slim chances of revival, so did any hope for a gas futures market reversal. The August contract quickly resumed its downward course in overnight trading, and sailed right down through $5 Tuesday morning to a low of $4.84. The contract ended the day down 23.9 cents at $4.868, just a few cents above its daily low. Its daily high of $5.040 was reached just after the opening bell.

In what might have been the most bearish 0.4-cent increase in recent memory, natural gas futures inched higher Monday in a session marked by technical wrangling. Selling was seen at the open and again in the afternoon by funds and local traders. Most of the morning meanwhile, was the domain of bulls as short-covering lifted the market just shy of Thursday’s $5.83 high. The May contract finished at $5.713, up .04-cents for the session, but more than a dime off its $5.82 high for the day.

The new Congress with slim Republican majorities in each house has a better chance to pass a trimmed down energy bill or to sneak through an Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) drilling bill in the next two years, according to Slade Gorton, a former three-term Republican senator from the state of Washington.

The new Congress with slim Republican majorities in each house has a better chance to pass a trimmed down energy bill or to sneak through an Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) drilling bill in the next two years, according to Slade Gorton, a former three-term Republican senator from the state of Washington.

Cash prices plummeted by about a quarter or more nearly across the board Thursday, ignoring an essentially flat screen during the morning that eventually eked out a gain of nearly 7 cents. The market rout had been signaled the day before by a futures dive in response to a larger-than-expected storage injection report, late retreats in Wednesday morning’s cash trading and reports of big drops in both on-line trading for Friday and and rest-of-month baseload numbers.

Ending a two-week, $1.17 price slide, natural gas bulls clung to early gains Thursday despite a considerable push lower late in the session. With that the October contract concluded its first day as prompt contract with an unremarkable 0.2-cent gain to finish at $2.395.