Natural Gas Advances in New York on Signs of Rebound in Demand

Natural gas futures rose in New York for the third straight day amid speculation that a strengthening economy and colder U.S. weather will increase demand and begin to draw down near record high inventories. A government report today showed an unexpected drop in U.S. jobless claims, a sign the economy is pulling out of the recession. Demand for gas starts to rise in November as temperatures fall.

“The question is how hard are we going to hit storage?” said Teri Viswanath, director of commodities research at Credit Suisse Securities USA in Houston. The market has priced in record high storage and is now focused on the prospect that a cold U.S. winter will lead to inventory draw downs, she said. Natural gas for October delivery rose 9.5 cents, or 2.5 percent, to close at $3.955 per million Btu on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The fuel was trading at $3.774 before the supply report was released at 10:30 a.m. in Washington.....Read the entire article

Natural Gas ETF Plunges More Than Fuel Even as Shares Sell Out

The largest exchange traded fund for natural gas, so popular that it ran out of shares two weeks ago, has lost 43 percent this year and probably will keep falling until winter, trailing the fuel it’s supposed to track. The United States Natural Gas Fund will suffer from record high gas inventories and seasonal prices hitting the ETF harder than the fuel, said Teri Viswanath, the director of commodities research at Credit Suisse Securities USA in Houston. Investors piled into the fund this year, driving up its number of outstanding shares 11-fold.....Complete Story