DJ Natural Gas Slides to 16-Month Low on Slow Stockpile Drain
By Timothy Puko
Natural gas prices fell to a 16-month low Monday as a slow stockpile drain eases investors' concerns about supply
shortages during the winter heating season.
Natural gas for January delivery was down 23.4 cents, or 6.8%, at $3.23 a million British thermal units on the New
York Mercantile Exchange. It was the biggest one-day percentage loss since February.
The contract slid by about 10 cents as soon as electronic trading opened Sunday evening, but losses have continued
throughout the morning.
Prices are now down nearly 13% in three straight sessions. Natural gas has moved into a bear market during that
losing streak and is down 28% from the six-month high of $4.489/mmBtu it hit just a month ago.
Weather has been unseasonably warm for December, limiting demand for home heating and allowing relatively low
stockpiles to catch up to where they were a year ago. That has encouraged the belief that stockpiles are relatively
healthy and emboldened traders to sell even with meteorologists predicting a colder-than-normal January and February on
the way.
"Overall we're in a bear market here, so you have to sell," said Scott Gettleman, an independent trader in New
York.
Write to Timothy Puko at timothy.puko@wsj.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 22, 2014 09:13 ET (14:13 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2014 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
122214 14:13 -- GMT
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