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Strategies & Market Trends : Buy and Sell Signals, and Other Market Perspectives -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jack of All Trades who wrote (1959)	4/1/2010 2:03:33 PM
From: fred woodall	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 220946

Natural gas futures shot more than 5% higher after a U.S. government report showed natural gas inventories grew by a slightly smaller-than-expected amount last week. Natural gas for May delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange was recently trading 16.7 cents, or 4.32%, higher at $4.036 a million British thermal units. The front-month contract rose as high as $4.114/MMBtu after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that natural gas inventories grew by 12 billion cubic feet last week. Analysts and traders had expected a 14 bcf build, according to the average of estimates in a Dow Jones Newswires survey. "Given the fact that we have had so much selling, the bullish news gave the market a jump," says Kent Bayazitoglu, an analyst with Houston-based Gelber & Associates. Natural gas prices have lost about a third of their value since hitting highs in January above $6/MMBtu. Natural gas in U.S. storage for the week ended March 26 stands at 1.638 trillion cubic feet--1% lower than a year ago and 10.8% higher than the five year average. On average, 27 bcf were withdrawn from storage during the same week over the past five years. "This still would seem to reinforce the dominant bearish sentiment, especially given the likelihood of further bearish reports off the mild temperatures in northern heating markets we're seeing," Tim Evans, an analyst with Citi Futures Perspective, wrote in a note to clients. Meteorologists with the private forecasting firm MDA EarthSat Weather are predicting above-normal temperatures across the eastern half of the country from April 6 to April 10. Mild weather can stifle gas demand and the market has now entered its so-called shoulder season--when mild weather tempers heating demand, and gas demand to generate electricity for air conditioners has not yet picked up.