Chris Newman

The U.S. natural gas rig count rose by three units to 103 for the week ending Friday (July 19) as drilling activity picked up, according to updated Enverus and Baker Hughes Co. (BKR) data.

Natural gas markets traded on either side of even through midday Friday as traders weighed vying potential bullish and bearish catalysts.

Natural gas futures were down in early trading Friday, undercut by a cooler weather pattern and risk-off sentiment amid a global tech outage.

Natural gas markets were climbing higher through midday trading Thursday after a weak storage injection showed scorching heat across the country offset demand losses from former Hurricane Beryl.

Natural gas futures moved higher early Thursday as traders prepared to digest updated government inventory data for a week that took difficult-to-predict demand hits from former Hurricane Beryl and a holiday weekend.

Natural gas markets were trading sharply lower through midday trading Wednesday amid signs of capitulation by bulls. Physical prices, meanwhile, were lower for the eastern half of the country ahead of a stretch of cooler weather.

A bounce off seasonal lows for natural gas futures fizzled in early trading Wednesday as bulls struggled to take advantage of a key export facility increasing feed gas deliveries for a second day.

Optimism around the restart of the Freeport LNG terminal had natural gas markets moving higher in choppy trade through midday Tuesday.

August natural gas futures have grown more oversold by the day in July, tumbling past multiple technical levels to converge with spot cash prices and put $2/MMBtu psychological support into view.

Supported by increased feed gas flows to the Freeport LNG export terminal on the Texas coast, natural gas futures were moving higher in early trading Tuesday.