Markets

Natural gas traders were not taking any chances in holding short positions on Friday given continuously fluctuating weather forecasts. The Nymex January gas futures contract rocketed 16.1 cents higher to settle at $4.488, while February climbed 16.1 cents to $4.378 and March rose 23.1 cents to $4.155.

After some flipping back and forth Wednesday, natural gas market bears regained full control on Thursday as weather outlooks showed truly cold air locked well north of the United States/Canada border after this week’s cold front passes through. The Nymex January gas futures contract fell 14.2 cents to settle at $4.327, while February lost 11.3 cents to hit $4.217 and March slid 8.2 cents to $3.924.

January natural gas futures were trading 8.0 cents lower at $4.389/MMBtu shortly before 9 a.m. ET Thursday as forecasts showing milder conditions through mid-December continued to apply bearish pressure on prices.

Amid stiff competition from natural gas and renewables in the power sector, U.S. coal consumption in 2018 is on track to fall to its lowest level since 1979, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said this week.

A jittery natural gas market plagued by a historic storage deficit that has only worsened before the peak of the winter season got some good news on the weather front as outlooks showed warmer temperatures beginning next week, a trend that could last for the next several weeks. January forward prices plunged an average 41 cents from Nov. 29-Dec. 5, while the balance of winter (February-March) dropped an average 31 cents, according to NGI’s Forward Look.

After some flipping back and forth Wednesday, natural gas market bears regained full control on Thursday as weather outlooks showed truly cold air locked well north of the United States/Canada border after this week’s cold front passes through. The Nymex January gas futures contract fell 14.2 cents to settle at $4.327, while February lost 11.3 cents to hit $4.217 and March slid 8.2 cents to $3.924.

January natural gas futures were trading 9.3 cents higher at $4.550/MMBtu shortly before 9 a.m. ET, with short-term cold offering support for the bulls as forecasters pointed to mixed trends in the weather data overnight.

Schlumberger Ltd. is signaling a sharper-than-expected sequential decline in profits for the fourth quarter because of a “significantly larger drop in activity” than expected, a top executive said Tuesday.

The PJM Interconnection has more than enough capacity to meet the forecasted peak electricity demand for the upcoming winter, the grid operator said Wednesday.