Futures Market Marked By Uncertainty; Several Factors Influence Cash Market

摘要

Both futures and spot markets experienced double-digit movements across the board this week, as end-of-month balancing, storage buying and stiff gains in the crude oil futures market injected volatility into the gas patch.rnThe end of the traditional storage withdrawal season Monday meant some Gulf Coast traders were no longer contract-bound to pull gas from the ground, which in turn sent them flooding the spot market to meet demand, sources said.rn"Cash is still cheaper than the May NYMEX, which is cheaper than June, July and so forth," a marketer said.rnPrices at Florida Gas Transmission zone 3 packed on as much as $1, trading as high as $10.50/MMBtu before averaging $10.17/MMBtu. Elsewhere, Henry Hub posted about a 40-cent gain to average $9.86/MMBtu.