February NYMEX Natural Gas Futures Contract Closed at $3.523 on Monday, January 5th

Monday, January 5th saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas contract open at $3.414, $0.204 below Friday’s closing price of $3.618. Recording a two-month intraday low of $3.355 within minutes of the opening, updated bearish forecasts continued to apply downward pressure on the contract over the weekend. Having strayed into oversold territory, prices gradually rose throughout the session, crossing midday at $3.422. Achieving the intraday high of $3.526, February closed lower on Monday at $3.523.

The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report published last Wednesday posted a 38 BCF withdrawal from storage for the week ended December 26 – in line with the market estimate of a 40 BCF withdrawal. Total working gas in storage was reported as 3,375 BCF; 1.6% below this time last year and 1.7% above the five-year average.

As of 7:12AM this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was up $0.240; Natural Gas was down $0.110; Heating Oil was down $0.004; and Gasoline was up $0.003.

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