Typical

Forecasts of moderating weekend weather, a prior-day screen plunge, a bearish storage report and the dip in industrial load that is typical of a weekend ganged up on the cash market Friday and forced prices lower by triple-digit amounts at all points. Despite the big weekend losses, prices were up overall for the week due to the hefty gains that dominated the first four days.

Weakening weather fundamentals, the industrial load drop typical of a weekend and a mildly bearish storage report the day before combined to keep prices on the slide Friday at all points. Declines ranged from about a nickel to just over 20 cents.

Natural gas prices reflect a degree of enthusiasm that is typical for this time of year, particularly if there are hurricanes lurking in the Gulf of Mexico, but according to one market observer, once traders weigh healthy storage inventories against expected winter weather, an option strategy designed to take advantage of high levels of volatility may be the trade to make.

After dropping lower and then spiking higher in its typical post-storage report theatrics, natural gas futures came back to near unchanged Thursday morning, prompting bulls and bears to turn to something other than storage for their next price clues. Without having to search too far, they found favorable medium and long-lead weather forecasts, which quickly translated into higher natural gas futures prices. August closed 10.2 cents higher for the session at $2.943.

After dropping lower and then spiking higher in its typical post-storage report theatrics, natural gas futures came back to near unchanged Thursday morning, prompting bulls and bears to turn to something other than storage for their next price clues. Without having to search too far, they found favorable medium and long-lead weather forecasts, which quickly translated into higher natural gas futures prices. August closed 10.2 cents higher for the session at $2.943.

Air conditioners are humming virtually everywhere, and that translated into continuing bullishness for almost the entire cash gas market Wednesday. Except for a small decline at Malin and flat to barely higher numbers at a few Northeast citygates, other points saw gains that tended to range from a nickel to a little more than 15 cents.

Air conditioners are humming virtually everywhere, and that translated into continuing bullishness for almost the entire cash gas market Wednesday. Except for a small decline at Malin and flat to barely higher numbers at a few Northeast citygates, other points saw gains that tended to range from a nickel to a little more than 15 cents.

In a typical display of its ability to shrug off undeniably bullish information, natural gas futures turned lower Wednesday afternoon following the announcement that a whopping 156 Bcf was pulled from underground storage facilities last week. After surpassing its Jan. 17 high of $2.38 to reach a new 5-week high at $2.41, the March contract plummeted 16.5 cents in 25 minutes to finish at $2.245, down 6 cents for the session.

After checking higher for much of the session Wednesday, natural gas futures moved back down to near unchanged, despite the release of a lower-than-expected storage injection figure. Buyers propelled the December contract back above the psychologically important $3.00 level just as the report was released. However, the advance failed to retest Monday’s $3.08 high, and that was a sign of weakness to traders. The December contract sifted lower from that point, closing with a one-cent loss at $2.87.