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Forumer storico
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Natural-gas futures fell Monday as a milder weather outlook and rising U.S. nuclear-power generation after recent outages hit the demand outlook for the power-plant fuel.
Natural gas for July delivery recently traded down 11.5 cents, or 2.4%, at $4.642 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Weather forecasters expect cooler weather this week in the Midwest and East following last week's heat wave, likely curbing natural-gas use. Natural-gas demand tends to rise in the summer along with air-conditioning use, as the power-plant fuel accounts for about a quarter of U.S. electricity generation.
Cameron Horwitz, an analyst with Canaccord Genuity in Houston, said the cooler forecasts were weighing on natural-gas prices Monday. "Without continued help from the weather, [natural gas] will retrace back toward $4.50," he said.
Horwitz said prices could fall as low as $4/MMBtu later this summer, with rising natural-gas stockpiles and a restart of idled nuclear-power plants.
"Nuclear power is rebounding," he said, following a larger-than-normal amount of planned outages that had helped to lift natural-gas demand recently. Natural gas-fired power stations are typically called on to pick up the slack when nuclear plants go offline.
Hot weather is expected to return again soon, however, likely limiting the market's declines. Commodity Weather Group said it expects warmer-than-normal temperatures in the South this week and sees more hot temperatures in the Midwest and into the East in its six- to 10-day forecast. Temperatures are expected to cool somewhat toward the end of the month, the private forecaster said.
Though hot weather had drawn interest to the natural-gas market recently, futures likely aren't set for sustained moves higher without an increase in manufacturing activity, said Rich Ilczyszyn, a senior market strategist at Lind-Waldock in Chicago. Industrial users account for about a third of U.S. natural-gas demand.
"If we close above $5, we may get some new interest in market," Ilczyszyn said.
The $5 level remains elusive, however. The heat wave across much of the U.S. last week pushed the benchmark natural-gas contract to 11-month highs of $4.983/MMBtu, before a larger-than-expected weekly rise in U.S. stockpiles Thursday triggered a pullback.
Meanwhile, natural gas for next-day delivery at the benchmark Henry Hub in Louisiana recently traded at $4.71/MMBtu, according to IntercontinentalExchange, little changed from Friday's average. Natural gas for Tuesday delivery at Transcontinental Zone 6 in New York traded at $4.92/MMBtu, down 4 cents from Friday.
Natural gas for July delivery recently traded down 11.5 cents, or 2.4%, at $4.642 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Weather forecasters expect cooler weather this week in the Midwest and East following last week's heat wave, likely curbing natural-gas use. Natural-gas demand tends to rise in the summer along with air-conditioning use, as the power-plant fuel accounts for about a quarter of U.S. electricity generation.
Cameron Horwitz, an analyst with Canaccord Genuity in Houston, said the cooler forecasts were weighing on natural-gas prices Monday. "Without continued help from the weather, [natural gas] will retrace back toward $4.50," he said.
Horwitz said prices could fall as low as $4/MMBtu later this summer, with rising natural-gas stockpiles and a restart of idled nuclear-power plants.
"Nuclear power is rebounding," he said, following a larger-than-normal amount of planned outages that had helped to lift natural-gas demand recently. Natural gas-fired power stations are typically called on to pick up the slack when nuclear plants go offline.
Hot weather is expected to return again soon, however, likely limiting the market's declines. Commodity Weather Group said it expects warmer-than-normal temperatures in the South this week and sees more hot temperatures in the Midwest and into the East in its six- to 10-day forecast. Temperatures are expected to cool somewhat toward the end of the month, the private forecaster said.
Though hot weather had drawn interest to the natural-gas market recently, futures likely aren't set for sustained moves higher without an increase in manufacturing activity, said Rich Ilczyszyn, a senior market strategist at Lind-Waldock in Chicago. Industrial users account for about a third of U.S. natural-gas demand.
"If we close above $5, we may get some new interest in market," Ilczyszyn said.
The $5 level remains elusive, however. The heat wave across much of the U.S. last week pushed the benchmark natural-gas contract to 11-month highs of $4.983/MMBtu, before a larger-than-expected weekly rise in U.S. stockpiles Thursday triggered a pullback.
Meanwhile, natural gas for next-day delivery at the benchmark Henry Hub in Louisiana recently traded at $4.71/MMBtu, according to IntercontinentalExchange, little changed from Friday's average. Natural gas for Tuesday delivery at Transcontinental Zone 6 in New York traded at $4.92/MMBtu, down 4 cents from Friday.
magari chiudendo la fase long qualora raggiungessi il target ambito di almeno 0'32'80,potrei aggregarmi nel puntare di brevissimo sullo short (non oltre 5 giorni con stop loss operativi).
