Just as the copper stocks were what clued us on the last 13 weeks of
the copper move*, the natural gas stocks are trading higher as the commodity
dawdles....
Today the components of the Amex Natural Gas Index are up again, an average of 4.26%.
From Bloomberg:
Natural gas futures rose the most since June 1 after a government
report showed that U.S. inventories rose less than analysts expected.
Supplies gained 106 billion cubic feet in the week ended June 5 to 2.443
trillion cubic feet, the Energy Department said. Analysts forecast an increase
of 110 billion. A report of rising retail sales in the U.S. may signal the
economy is rebounding from the worst recession in five decades. Factories and
manufacturers account for about 29 percent of gas demand.
“It’s not going to take much for gas to turn on a dime to the upside,” said Tom Orr,
director of research at Weeden & Co., a brokerage in Greenwich, Connecticut. “The
sentiment has changed and people are starting to look into 2010. There are
little glimmers of light for everything else that is rubbing off on gas.”
Natural gas for July delivery rose 22.8 cents, or 6.2 percent, to $3.936 per
million British thermal units at 12:37 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange,
the highest price since June 5. Gas fell yesterday on concern a stockpile
surplus would increase. Gas has declined 30 percent this year, making it the
worst performer in the S&P GSCI Commodity index this year....MORE
