Author: Willis Bennett

Prices ended last week pressuring being over sold so it is not surprising to see a bounce at the start of trade last night. What will be of more interest is how it plays out during the day. Read the web site for indications and history about last week and what the declines will meet. The market has now broken the range that has held it for weeks so tread lightly (it has gotten more complex). Patience, to see what happens to the declines and bearish mood, in the near term.

Major Support: $1.484-$1.44, $1.336
Minor Support: $1.527
Major Resistance: $1.595, $1.611-1.642
Minor Resistance: $1.722, $1.864-$1.896

One would expect that those of you who sold $1.50 puts through the months to be comfortable with that position. That said, one has to wonder where this decline will find support. Never get comfortable in Natgas.

Major Support: $1.611-$1.59, $1.555-$1.519
Minor Support: $1.649
Major Resistance: $1.90, $1.974, $2.019- $2.029
Minor Resistance: $1.722, $1.864-$1.896

I have been moving office and home for the last few days and have been blessed with a market going nowhere. I am reminded of what my kids used to say when the got into the car and after the first few miles of excitement, the mantra became “wake me when we get there”. I am developing the same attitude with this expiration process. It is extremely boring, but keep to the range.

Major Support: $1.611-$1.59, $1.555-$1.519
Minor Support: $1.649
Major Resistance: $1.90, $1.974, $2.019- $2.029
Minor Resistance: $1.722, $1.864-$1.896

Price action gave no indication of directional bias during expiration yesterday, so we are left with boring range trade of the last week. One element of the trade noticed yesterday, was the weakening of the winter trade versus prompt– this may give us a clue of where to trade this market for a little more action than with the prompt as the premium of Dec to July is $1.10. Will keep you posted on an other nuances that this market is providing in a very docile period.

Major Support: $1.611-$1.59, $1.555-$1.519
Minor Support: $1.649
Major Resistance: $1.90, $1.974, $2.019- $2.029
Minor Resistance: $1.722, $1.864-$1.896

First off– We are in the midst of moving the office to another location which will require interruptions of internet access. I will try to get updates on the Daily out in a timely matter but there may be some issues with getting them in the email. Should you not get the email, turn to the website for the Daily. We experienced some slight problems last week but believe we had them rectified.

Prices broke down and found support at key levels around $1.60. Expect this to continue. Volume was higher week over week and open interest gained towards the end of the week. An interesting development occurred when prices declined at the first part of the week, volume was significantly lower. As price gained some support, volume rose significantly. Not sure what news is going to hit the market and create a directional bias, so continue to play the range.

Apologies for the lack of a Daily yesterday, but circumstances would not facilitate. Nothing new to report except that the market is very comfortable with this range (major range between $1.51-$2.00, inside range of $1.60-$1.90) for a couple of months now and what is curious to this observer is the lack of interest in selling the winter down on these moves down. Looking at the chart above the winter has declined almost 5% from the early May high while the series of prompt months (June and July) have shed nearly 26%. The market seems to be saying that summer is no issue — plenty of gas to inject but not sure about next winter. Seems to be a good time for a storage operator. What confuses me, is the lack of selling into the winter with great margins for the storage operators. As discussed in the long term on the web site, something is going to break here.

Prices continued the melt-down as prices broke below the trend line of support from the March and May lows and extended the declines to the lows from May. Now what — as mentioned on the long term outlook- prices could decline beyond those May lows but will find a plethora of buyers as prices go down to the well supported lows. BTW- the Bollinger Band, discussed in the Long Term section, is at $1.56 currently.

Major Support: $1.611-$1.59, $1.555-$1.519
Minor Support: $1.705-$1.649
Major Resistance: $1.90, $1.974, $2.019- $2.029
Minor Resistance: $1.864-$1.896

Prices extended the weak close last week, taking prices down to the support trend line from the March and April lows in the Continuous chart. Each of the remaining summer months brook below there previous contract lows. That said, the winter months did not extend to a lower low for those contracts. The spreads between the prompt and the remaining summer months expanded on the declines. The market seems to be setting up for another month of premium to the the next prompt expanding to the existing prompt into expiration, only to allow the premium to be hammered after the new prompt takes over.

Major Support: $1.611-$1.59, $1.555-$1.519
Minor Support: $1.705-$1.649
Major Resistance: $1.90, $1.974, $2.019- $2.029
Minor Resistance: $1.864-$1.896