Updated Aug 30, 2024
8/30/24
By Chris Newman
onNatural gas futures accelerated declines through midday trading Friday, undercut by weakness in physical cash markets and forecasts for milder weather next week.
Here’s the latest:
Chris Newman joined NGI in October 2023. He worked 18 years at Argus Media, starting in 2004 in Washington, D.C., where he covered U.S. thermal/coking coal markets and rail transportation. In 2014, he moved to Singapore to help lead Argus’ coverage of steel and its raw material feedstocks. A graduate of the University of Virginia, Chris returned to his native Virginia in 2021.
In its debut run at the front of the Nymex natural gas futures curve, the October contract mustered momentum after a government inventory report met expectations and proved bullish relative to historical norms.
In its final run as the prompt month, the September natural gas futures contract opened lower, with steady production and approaching fall weather trumping expectations for a favorable government inventory print.
With supply appearing more than ample to meet demand through the waning days of summer, natural gas futures gave up more ground through midday trading Tuesday. Natural gas spot prices also fell.
Stubbornly high levels of storage supplies and forecasts for waning weather demand weighed on natural gas futures through midday trading on Friday.
Natural gas futures nosedived Thursday after the market received bearish government inventory data and looming autumn weather presented the likelihood of fading cooling demand. Spot prices fell in tandem.
Natural gas futures seesawed in a narrow range of gains and losses for a second straight session on Wednesday. The prompt month hovered in the red by early afternoon trading as market participants weighed expectations for strong late-August cooling needs and bullish supply trends against expectations for retreating demand in the fall.
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