Straight

The market was mixed for the second straight day Thursday, but this time more of the price movement was positive than negative. Most points were close to flat again, but rebounds in the previously softer West ranged up to about a dime.

For the second straight session, natural gas futures gapped lower at the opening bell. But in contrast to Monday’s session-long price retreat, the market rebounded Tuesday, pumping life into bulls who are suffering through some mild winter temperatures. The January contract finished at $6.143, down 18.1 cents for the session, but more than 20 cents above its low for the day.

The cash market appeared to brush aside Monday’s second straight screen dive in registering gains Tuesday that were as low as a dime at a few western points, but most often ranged between a quarter and more than 60 cents.

Natural gas prices slipped lower for the third-straight session Wednesday as traders continued to lighten their longs ahead of the release of weekly inventory data Thursday. Similar to the early weakness exhibited on Monday and Tuesday, the market experienced its heaviest selling in the morning Wednesday, forcing bulls to battle back in the afternoon from a deep deficit.

For the third-straight trading session, natural gas futures tumbled early, but quickly stabilized Monday as traders continue to view the market with apprehension. On one side is the market’s seasonal tendency to rally in September; on the other is the bearish storage and weather outlook.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. showed production gains for the eighth consecutive quarter, boosting its oil and gas 55% year-over-year and 19% more than the first quarter. In the last eight quarters, the Oklahoma City-based independent has seen its production grow 72%, averaging a sequential quarterly growth rate of 7%.

Natural gas futures were higher for the fourth-straight session Wednesday as traders continued to eschew the short side of the market in light of the tropical storm lurking in the Caribbean and another potentially bullish storage report scheduled to be released Thursday. The August contract rallied to close at $5.52, up 1.7 cents for the session and nearly a half-dollar more than its $5.08 bottom of a week ago.

Despite a third straight triple-digit weekly storage injection (114 Bcf), natural gas futures surged Thursday in three distinct waves of short-covering and speculative buying. When the dust had settled and the orders counted at Nymex, the numbers were impressive: July natural gas futures rose 36 cents to close at $5.941, just off its new one-week high of $5.95. In contrast to the first three trading days of this week, volume at Nymex was heavy Thursday, with an estimated 92,607 contracts changing hands.

The June natural gas futures contract was able to shrug off its second straight negative open Wednesday as buyers entered the fray when it became apparent the market wasn’t going to fill in a key chart gap from late April. The June contract finished at $5.660, up 9.2 cents for the session and 20 cents above its morning low. Gains were even larger in the July contract, which rumbled 10.2 cents higher to $5.735.