Natural Gas Futures Rise as Heat Sends Demand Higher
With extreme heat expected to spread across the country and drive demand for cooling, July natural gas futures ended their four-day losing streak in early Tuesday trade.
With extreme heat expected to spread across the country and drive demand for cooling, July natural gas futures ended their four-day losing streak in early Tuesday trade.
Natural gas futures faltered a fourth straight session on Monday, held in check by stronger production and increased flow capacity, as well as a mixed view on the weather demand outlook.
Exploration and production companies are bringing natural gas output back online to meet rising demand as temperatures surge across the country, helping futures extend losses into a fourth session through midday trading on Monday.
July Nymex natural gas futures were lower early Monday as rising production and falling LNG feed gas demand outweighed the impact of extremely hot weather.
After the latest weekly storage report showed a modest injection and an upward revision to the total working gas supply, July natural gas futures continued lower through midday trading Thursday.
Natural gas futures’ rally to their highest level since January stalled as traders shrugged off the largely anticipated news of Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC (MVP) winning federal approval to begin operations, and instead squared books through midday trading Wednesday.
With forecasts hyping widespread heat to ramp up cooling demand through mid-July, natural gas futures renewed their advance back above the psychologically important $3.000/MMBtu mark in midday trading Tuesday.
Natural gas analysts are issuing cautionary warnings to market bulls, still firmly in control and backed by substantial technical strength, as near-term softness is possible after futures crashed through $3.000/MMBtu resistance.
With a blanket of heat stalling over the southern part of the country, market bulls maintained control, pulling prompt-month natural gas futures past previous resistance in early Monday trade.
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.