Wednesday, January 21st saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas contract open at $4.792, $0.885 above Tuesday’s closing price of $3.907. Suring overnight once again, traders are pricing in the impending frigid temperatures that set to take hold over the next week. In addition to intensified heating demand, production curtailment and freeze-offs are likely imminent. The contract rose to an intraday high of $4.978 at 10:05AM and reached the intraday low of $4.607 fifty minutes later. Finishing the day with a steady ascent reclaim the $4.800 level, February closed higher on Wednesday at $4.875; up 57.1% since Friday.
The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report is due out Thursday at 10:30AM. The report is expected to show a 90 BCF withdrawal from storage for the week ended January 16. This compares to a 223 BCF withdrawal this time last year and a five-year average withdrawal amount of 191 BCF.
As of 7:10AM this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was down $0.970; Natural Gas was up $0.571; Heating Oil was up $0.054; and Gasoline was down $0.041.
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