Natural Gas Fundamental Analysis Feb 1, 2012, Forecast

By FX Empire.com

Economic Events:

WEEKLY

• This Week in Petroleum
  Release Schedule: Wednesday @ 1:00 p.m. EST (schedule)
• Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update
  Release Schedule: Monday between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. EST (schedule)
• Weekly Petroleum Status Report
  Release Schedule: The wpsrsummary.pdf, overview.pdf, and Tables 1-14 in CSV and XLS formats, are released to the Web site after 10:30 a.m. (Eastern Time) on Wednesday. All other PDF and HTML files are released to the Web site after 1:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) on Wednesday. Appendix D is produced during the winter heating season, which extends from October through March of each year. For some weeks which include holidays, releases are delayed by one day. (schedule)
• Heating Oil & Propane Update (October-March)
  Heating Oil, Propane Residential and Wholesale Price Data
  Release Schedule: Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. EST
• Weekly Coal Production
  Release Schedule: Thursday by 5:00 p.m. EST
• Weekly NYMEX Coal Futures
  Release Schedule: Monday by 5:00 p.m. EST
• Coal News & Markets
  Release Schedule: Monday by 5:00 p.m. EST
• Natural Gas Weekly Update
  Release Schedule: Thursday between 2:00 and 2:30 p.m. (Eastern Time)
• Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report
  Release Schedule: Thursday at 10:30 (Eastern Time) (schedule)

Analysis and Recommendations:

Natural Gas is currently down at 2.502 after hitting a high of 2.842. Today is a simple case of profit taking as NG has cascaded up for a week, moving from 2.32 to 2.84. Natural gas continues its steep losses on warming weather trends and profit-taking after some recent gains. Losses topped 8% and prices traded at their lowest in a week and a half.

Natural-gas prices have closely tracked weather forecasts in recent weeks. Colder-than-normal winter temperatures increase the need for gas-fired electricity to heat homes, bolstering demand for natural gas.

This is typically the coldest time in winter, but temperatures in the U.S. have yet to reach levels cold enough to boost demand for the heating fuel, keeping prices depressed at unseasonably low levels.

Originally posted here