Yahoo Finance Natural Gas Futures Spike on Forecasts for Freezing Temperatures
Investing.com - Natural gas futures surged for the third session in row on Wednesday, as investors reacted to forecasts showing freezing temperatures hitting much of the U.S. through late November.
natural gas futures jumped 37.0 cents, or around 9%, to $4.471 per million British thermal units by 8:35AM ET (1335GMT), having earlier reached its best level since February 2014 at $4.863.
Futures have gained 36.5% so far this month as traders fretted over cold weather and tight supplies.
Natural gas prices typically rise ahead of the winter as colder weather sparks indoor-heating demand.
The heating season from November through March is the peak demand period for U.S. gas consumption.
Meanwhile, investors looked ahead to weekly data from the U.S. on supplies in storage to gauge demand for the fuel.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) will release its official weekly natural gas storage report for the week ended Nov. 9 on Thursday, amid expectations for an injection of 32 billion cubic feet (bcf).
That compares with a build of 65 bcf in the preceding week, a fall of 18 bcf a year earlier and a five-year average increase of 19 bcf.
Total natural gas in storage currently stands at 3.208 trillion cubic feet (tcf), according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the lowest level for this time of year in about 15 years.
The last time supplies were this low in the first week of November was in 2003.
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