October natural gas trudged lower Friday as traders see widening differentials auguring further weakness. October fell 6.9 cents to $3.809 and November dropped 5.9 cents to $3.922. October crude oil shed $1.44 to $87.96/bbl.
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Despite Bearish Near-Term Outlook, Futures Chop Higher
Despite moderating weather and falling cash prices, the natural gas futures market trudged cautiously higher Tuesday in light trading volume. The April contract finished the session up 4.5 cents at $5.438. The out months followed suit, achieving lesser gains of 3-4 cents. At 47,533, estimated volume was weak and confirms the lack of consensus over the next price leg.
Futures Struggle Higher Amid Diverging Market Views
Despite a dip in the nearby crude oil market, natural gas futures trudged quietly higher Tuesday as traders wrestled with the contradictory forces of supportive technicals and bearish near-term storage outlooks. It wasn’t pretty, but the April contract did manage to eke out a modest 1.5-cent advance to notch its fifth straight daily advance. It closed at $5.565.
Futures See-Saw on Storage and Weather News
Boosted by another morning of strong cash prices, the futuresmarket trudged higher Wednesday as traders gained optimism thatprices may have found a bottom. But that speculation could be a bitpremature because as soon as bulls finished pushing the Januarycontract 1.7 cents higher to its $2.288 settlement the bears tookit lower in after-hours trading. Even a bullish storage report didnot help to dissuade the late selling pressure.