Dow Jones - Natural Gas Settles At 3-Week High

DJ Natural Gas Prices Close at Three-Week High on Warming Forecasts


 By Timothy Puko


  NEW YORK--Natural gas prices closed Friday at a three-week high as weather
forecasts show some warmer temperatures on the way.

  Prices for the front-month September contract settled up 8.6 cents, or 2.2%,
to $3.962 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
It was the highest closing price since July 16, the last time gas prices closed
above $4/mmBtu.

  Weather forecasts are mixed, but some show spurts of summer heat in parts of
the country both this week and later in August. MDA Weather Services shows
slightly above normal temperatures coming in two weeks to cover all of the East
Coast and spread further from west to east across Texas.

  The forecast rise in temperature wasn't a lot, but it was enough to stop 1.5%
in losses from Thursday, said Gene McGillian, a broker and analyst at Tradition
Energy. Short sellers who bet on falling prices Thursday may have also decided
to buy back in and cover those bets to take profits before the weekend, Matt
Smith, an analyst at consultant Schneider Electric SA in Louisville, Ky., said
in a note.


  Write to Timothy Puko at tim.puko@wsj.com


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  (END) Dow Jones Newswires

  August 08, 2014 15:04 ET (19:04 GMT)

  Copyright (c) 2014 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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