Wild

Natural gas futures trading took a back seat Monday to the wild day of action in the expiring October crude contract, which at one point was trading more than $25 higher than Friday’s close. October crude ended up going off the board at $120.92/bbl, up $16.37, or nearly 16% from Friday’s close, while October natural gas gained 13.7 cents to finish at $7.658/MMBtu.

Wrapping up a wild week of price swings, November natural gas futures on Friday pushed lower as the potential storm threats in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic continued to show no interest in strengthening. The prompt month traded between $7.060 and $7.320 before closing out the week at $7.073, down 33.9 cents on the day but 20.3 cents higher than the previous Friday’s close.

After a wild week that saw the natural gas futures market survive heat waves, August’s expiration and a 7 Bcf storage withdrawal in the heart of July, natural gas futures traders gave it a rest on Friday. In its first regular session action as front month, September natural gas briefly sank below $7 before settling at $$7.184, up 6.1 cents on the day and 93.6 cents higher for the week.

With a “wild card” storage report looming Thursday morning (see Daily GPI, July 26), it appeared that traders were positioning themselves for the most bullish scenario as August natural gas futures tore higher on Wednesday, one day ahead of the contract’s expiration. The prompt month put in a $6.900 high late in the session before closing at $6.887, up 47.8 cents from Tuesday’s close.

Capping off a wild day that included a natural gas storage report and the expiration of March options, March natural gas retested the sub-$7 mark on Thursday only to find that support still resides in the area. Late in the session, the prompt month punched higher on a run of buying, putting in a high of $7.600 before settling at $7.458, up 17.5 cents from Wednesday’s close.

Putting in a wild and volatile day of trading Wednesday, March natural gas futures ratcheted higher in the morning to put in a $9.820 high before collapsing lower. After notching a low of $8.700 late in the session, the prompt month settled at $8.723, down 59.3 cents on the day.

Finishing its wild ride as prompt month, February natural gas on Friday opened at $8.550 — significantly higher than Thursday’s close — and put in an $8.640 tick in the first minute of the session. However, that ended up being the high for the day as the prompt month bounced in the low-to-mid-$8 area for the rest of the session before expiring at $8.400, up 17.1 cents on the day but 88 cents lower than the previous week’s close.

Capping a wild week of trading that saw a new all-time prompt month high and settle, January natural gas futures recorded their third consecutive down day Friday, stamping the week’s overall trend as weak. The prompt month Friday closed out the week at $13.633, down 14.8 cents on the day and 67.9 cents lower than the previous Friday’s close.

Following Thursday’s wild down day, June natural gas futures used Friday to steady the ship by trading within a fairly narrow 11.5-cent range. However, the prompt month was able to maintain most of its work lower, reaching only a $6.55 high on the day.