Tuesday, March 22nd saw the April NYMEX Natural Gas Futures Contract open at of $5.081, eighteen cents above Friday’s closing price of $4.900. Surging nearly ten cents from the open to reach $5.197 by 9:15AM, the contract then pulled back and recorded an intraday low of $5.044 at 10:55AM. An overnight shift in forecasts that introduced unseasonal heating demand to short-term forecasts brought a bout of short covering as prices ascended into the afternoon. Marking a six-week intraday high of $5.204 ahead of 2:30PM, April closed higher on Tuesday at $5.187.
The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report is due out on Thursday at 10:30AM. The report is expected to show an 89 BCF withdrawal from storage for the week ended March 18. This compares to a 32 BCF withdrawal at this time last year and a five-year average withdrawal amount of 62 BCF.
As of 6:45AM EST this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was up $2.27; Natural Gas was up one cent; Heating Oil was up four cents; and Gasoline was up four cents.
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