Jeremiah Shelor

Natural gas forwards underwent mixed changes during the May 30-June 5 trading period, though numerous hubs pushed higher as forecasts drove optimism around cooling demand potential into the second half of June.

As forecasts continued to point to widespread cooling demand potential by mid-June, natural gas futures were headed for a third consecutive positive session through midday trading Friday.

The U.S. natural gas rig count fell two units to 98 for the week ending Friday (June 7) amid a slowdown in Marcellus Shale drilling, updated figures from Baker Hughes Co. (BKR) show.

With a toasty June temperature outlook helping the market to shake off a plump weekly inventory build, natural gas futures probed modestly higher in early trading Friday.

Natural gas forwards underwent mixed changes during the May 30-June 5 trading period, though numerous hubs pushed higher as forecasts drove optimism around cooling demand potential into the second half of June.

After the latest weekly storage injection overshot estimates and wiped out earlier gains, July natural gas futures were trading modestly higher through midday Thursday.

With the market keying in on a hotter outlook heading into the second half of June, and with a surplus-trimming weekly government inventory report expected, natural gas futures rallied in early trading Thursday.

See-saw price action continued in the natural gas futures market as of midday trading Wednesday, with prices rebounding on a hotter outlook for key markets heading into the back half of June. 

As recent forecasts hinted at widespread summer heat developing later this month, natural gas futures advanced in early trading Wednesday. The July Nymex contract was up 5.7 cents to $2.643/MMBtu as of 8:42 a.m. ET.

In a volatile start to the week, natural gas futures gave back a large chunk of the previous session’s gains through midday Tuesday as the market continued to search for fair value.