BLBG: Natural Gas Futures Drop on Outlook for Waning Eastern Heat
Natural gas futures declined in New York as the outlook for cooler eastern U.S. weather signaled reduced demand for the power-plant fuel.
Gas fell as much as 1.8 percent as revised forecasts from companies including MDA Weather Services in Gaithersburg, Maryland, showed seasonal temperatures along the East Coast and parts of the Midwest from Sept. 1 through Sept. 10. Previous projections showed above-normal readings. September gas options expire today.
“We’ve seen a little bit of the heat taken out of the forecast next week for the Midwest and the Northeast,” Gene McGillian, an analyst and broker at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. “You may also have a bit of a position squaring from the options expiration today.”
Natural gas for September delivery slid 5.2 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $3.461 per million British thermal units at 9:05 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Trading volume was 8.6 percent below the 100-day average. Prices are up 3.3 percent this year.
To contact the reporter on this story: Naureen S. Malik in New York at nmalik28@bloomberg.net;
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net
