With a holiday weekend spent mulling sub-$4.00 natural gas under their belts, traders at the New York Mercantile Exchange wasted little time taking the June contract for one last ride lower Tuesday, as they demoted the prompt month through several levels of support. By virtue of its $3.738 final closing price, the June contract limped off the board with a 23.5-cent loss for the day, resting a whopping $1.203 lower than where it was when it began its tenure as prompt contract at Nymex a month ago.
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Senate Ushers in Omnibus Energy Legislation
Before a packed crowd of the Who’s Who in Washington, D.C.energy circles, Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-AK) and other SenateRepublicans last week touted their omnibus energy legislation asboth “sound” and “well balanced.” The mix of tax credits,incentives, royalty relief and other measures offered in the bill,they vowed, will reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil toless than 50% by 2010 by increasing domestic production ofconventional energy fuels and improving energy efficiency andconservation.
Warm Weather Ushers January Contract to New Lows
For the second trading session in a row, natural gas futureswere hit with a wave of selling pressure Monday, as bears basked inthe glow of forecasts calling for continued above-normaltemperatures across much of the country. After showing earlypromise last week in trading up to $2.485, the January contract hassince slipped to new life-of-contract lows, closing at $2.224yesterday. Activity was with 69,325 contracts changing hands.
Late Sell-Off Ushers March to Expiration
Trading at the New York Mercantile Exchange for the month ofFebruary has featured tight but choppy ranges punctuated by smalldecreases when sellers slightly outnumbered the buyers in themarket. And yesterday’s expiration-day session was simply amicrocosm of that as the March contract was the focus of a fierce,and mostly balanced battle, which was ultimately decided by sellerslate in the day. The March contract concluded its reign as promptmonth with a 4.4-cent decline to settle at $1.666.