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Natural gas futures closed lower for a third session on Friday as weather worries and Thursday’s bearish government storage report weighed on prices. Losses may have been limited by an optimistic outlook for LNG exports and a robust U.S. jobs report that indicated the economic recovery may be picking up momentum.
On Friday, May natural gas futures settled at $2.739, down $0.042 or -1.51%.
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Short-Term Weather Forecast
Bespoke Weather Services said comfortable weather and light heating demand are to permeate most of the Lower 48 in the coming week.
Friday forecasts included “incremental warmer changes, as mid to late next week moves even warmer, not far from record warm levels” in terms of gas-weighted degree days, the firm added. Conditions “should make it more difficult for weather to really move the needle” as far as “overall sentiment in the natural gas market.”
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Treasury Yields Continue To Move Higher After Powell Fails To Calm Markets
Yesterday, S&P 500 found itself under pressure while Treasury yields moved higher after Fed Chair Jerome Powell did not signal that the Fed would do anything specific about the recent sell-off in the bond market.
Powell stated that the Fed was monitoring the current situation and that it had tools to support markets if necessary. However, investors clearly wanted to hear more about potential measures to stop the upside trend in Treasury yields.
Meanwhile, rising yields provided additional support to the U.S. dollar which rallied against a broad basket of currencies. Not surprisingly, precious metals were under pressure in such environment. Currently, gold is trying to settle below the $1700 level. If this attempt is successful, shares of gold miners will have a challenging start of today’s trading session.
Last night was heavy on surprises leading to plenty of drama. OPEC+ wrong-footed markets by leaving their production cuts intact for another month, delivering a 150,000 bpd increase to Russia and Kazakhstan, with oil prices rocketing higher.