Updated Aug 30, 2024
8/30/24
By Kevin Dobbs
onNatural 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.
“It’s hard to be a bull right now,” East Daley Analytics analyst Jack Weixel said on the online energy platform Enelyst.
Here’s the latest:
Kevin Dobbs joined the staff of NGI in April 2020. Prior to that, he worked as a financial reporter and editor for S&P Global Market Intelligence, covering financial companies and markets. Earlier in his career, he served as an enterprise reporter for the Des Moines Register. He has a bachelor's degree in English from South Dakota State University.
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 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.
Coming off an 11.2-cent rally the previous session, natural gas futures probed a few cents higher early Tuesday on lower production estimates. But the prompt month failed to sustain momentum as traders focused on weaker near-term demand and took profits. Cash prices also trended lower at midday.
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