The old saying 'every dog has its day' could certainly apply to the Natural Gas futures market as the December futures contract has risen to highs not seen since June, despite a record amount of natural gas in storage. It is still too early to tell to what extent the recent rally may be due to speculative short covering. The most recent Commitment of Traders report shows large non commercial traders were holding a net short position of 64,050 contracts as of October 13th. This was a decline of 1,902 contracts for the week and does not take into account the activity that occurred during the nearly 0.750 point rally since the report was released. Also adding a bit of bullish fuel to the recent rally are predictions that a weak El Nino weather pattern may result in a colder than normal winter.
If true, it may cause utilities Gas usage for heating demand to increase, helping to cut into the current burdensome supplies. Traders are also beginning to anticipate an uptick in industrial demand now that there are signs that the worst of the recession is behind us and an improvement in industrial production may not be far off. However, until we start to see fresh buying entering the market, any major rally attempts could be met with eager sellers, especially with futures trading above cash prices. Traders should monitor government data to gauge the extent of any economic recovery, as Natural Gas futures have been acting as a barometer to economic conditions here in the U.S......read the entire article and charts.
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