Technical

With little in the way of fresh fundamental or technical impetus, natural gas futures drifted sideways and lower Tuesday as traders elected to wait for a clearer supply-demand picture to develop. The September contract remained within an extremely tight 5.5-cent range, well beneath Monday’s gap lower open, but safely above support in the $3.03-10 area. At the closing bell, September was 1.7 cents weaker at $3.17.

With little on either the technical or fundamental news front, natural gas futures shuffled sideways and lower yesterday, as traders weighed moderating temperatures against the potential for a bullish storage report Wednesday. At the closing bell the September contract was 4.1 cents lower at $2.999. The 12-month strip suffered only a minor setback, down 1.6-cents at $3.443.

In a session notably void of fresh fundamental or technical news, natural gas futures moved sideways yesterday as many traders opted to wait until the beginning of the three-day settlement period and the release of storage figures today before placing their orders. At $2.97 the August contract finished 0.8 cents lower on the day and just about in the middle of its 3-day $2.915-$3.01, trading range. Volume was relatively weak with just 61,764 contracts changing hands.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will convene a technical conference later this month that will examine interregional coordination issues between regional transmission organizations (RTOs). Although specifics on the conference remain somewhat sketchy, it appears that the issue of seams in the broader context of RTO formation will be a key topic of discussion at the gathering. The conference has been scheduled for June 19.

Bulls saved their best for last on Friday. After being held to an extremely-tight, 7-cent trading range throughout much of the session, natural gas futures shot high during the closing 75 minutes of trading in concert with a spike in the nearby crude oil pit. At the closing bell, June natural gas futures were up a modest 4.3 cents or 1% at $4.291. Comparatively, June crude was up an even dollar or a little over 3% at $29.91.

After failing for the third day in a row to sustain a move beneath $4.20, natural gas futures rallied yesterday as traders began to cover shorts initiated during the recent price erosion. At the closing bell, the June contract was 14.6 cents higher at $4.348.

Following a nine-week sideways consolidation period, natural gas prices finally broke lower Monday, as traders continued to price in the impact of increased production in a slowing economy. A gap lower open for the June contract set the tone early and the bears responded with a steady stream of selling throughout the session, delivering the prompt month to its lowest settle in five months. At the closing bell, June was 17.2 cents lower at $4.695.

May’s tenure as prompt month in the natural gas pit has not gone all that well for the bulls. Although there have been good days when prices ratcheted higher, most of the month has been a downer as prices tumbled from the $5.74 high — notched on April’s expiration day — down to beneath the $5.00 level Wednesday. It was only fitting that the May contract continued to slump on its expiration day Thursday. At the closing bell, the May contract limped off the board at $4.891, down 9 cents for the day and a whopping 84.9 cents off its March 28 high.

With little in the way of fresh fundamental or technical developments, natural gas futures slid sideways and lower for the second day in a row Tuesday, as traders elected to remain mostly on the sidelines ahead of fresh storage data to be released this afternoon. The May contract closed 4.7 cents lower at $5.078.