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
