August natural gas prices began the Sunday evening trade on a positive note but reversed course earlier this morning. A report of a tropical wave near the Yucatan Peninsula that has a 20% chance of developing into something more severe seems to be offering little support to natural gas this morning. Some traders indicated that the early weakness may be a delayed reaction to Friday's rig count data that showed a jump on the week. The Commitments of Traders Futures and Options report as of June 21st showed non-commercial traders were net short 146,030 contracts, an increase of 14,792. Non-commercial and nonreportable traders combined held a net short position of 102,689 contracts, for an increase of 19,640 during the report week.
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