April futures $1.764 down 7.0 cents after trading as low as 1.747. Here's the 5-minute chart from FinViz:
Natural gas futures plunged Thursday morning after the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a storage withdrawal that was much less than the market had expected.
EIA reported a 117 Bcf withdrawal in its 10:30 a.m. EST release, and the market immediately tested December lows at $1.684.
The EIA also revised last week's withdrawal from 158 Bcf to 163 Bcf, thus imparting a touch of bullishness to an otherwise highly bearish report. The expiring March futures contract fell to a low of $1.683 following the release of the storage data, and by 10:45 a.m. March was trading at $1.686, down 9.2 cents from Wednesday's settlement.
"I think a little bit of money was taken off the table on the dip, but otherwise the shorts are very comfortable right now," a New York floor trader told NGI. "The drop put prices below the previous support in the low $1.70s and is exactly what the shorts were looking for. We may test $1.61 to $1.63," he said....MORE
