Natural Gas January 9, 2019
Natural gas futures are trading flat-to-lower in limited trading early Wednesday. Traders continue to adjust positions while waiting for the short-term or mid-term weather forecasts to confirm or
deny the return of cooler temperatures later in the month. Despite the lack of conviction in the futures markets at this time, the spot market posted double-digit gains across the eastern two-thirds of the Lower 48,
according to the Natural Gas Intelligence report.
The February Natural Gas contract is trading at $2.95, down $0.01.
Weather Opinions
Bespoke Weather Services blamed the up-and-down price action to shifting warmer and cooler trends in the various weather model runs.
“A disturbance moving across the Great Lakes is forecast to intensify significantly as it traverses New England” Tuesday night into Wednesday, the National Weather Service (NWS) said. “This will result in colder air to filter into the area, changing rain and freezing rain back to snow along with increasing winds from the north.
“Up to a foot of snow is possible across northern Maine by the time the storm moves further away into the Canadian Maritimes on Thursday. Colder air will usher into much of the eastern U.S. as the storm moves away and a high pressure ridge builds in from the Plains.”
According to NatGasWeather for January 9-15, “A strong cold front will push across the Great Lakes and Northeast the next several days with lows behind the cold front reaching the 0s to 20s for strong demand. However, much of the rest of the country will be mostly mild with highs of 40s to 70s to counter. A weather system will track into the West Coast the next few days with rain and snow, but with only slight cooling. This weekend into early next week will bring a reinforcing cold shot across the East, followed by rapid warming mid-week, while the rest of the country remains mostly mild. Overall, national demand will be increasing to moderate-high late this week into early next week.”