Daily Market Update January 29, 2021

Early Morning Update

The Mar21 natural gas contract is flat at $2.66. The Mar21 crude oil contract is up $0.48 at $52.82.

Summary

The NYMEX natural gas contract closed yesterday at -$0.04 after a underwhelming withdrawal from storage. The price movement downward occurred directly following the EIA's announcement of the 128Bcf withdrawal came in 10Bcf lower than forecasted. This was much less than the 170Bcf withdrawal from last year, but likely will come in higher next week as further cold weather is expected to take hold. In recent years, the end of January leading into mid-February has been accompanied with the coldest temperatures. It appears that the forecasts are calling for the same pattern this year with cold showing up in the north east markets in the next week, with more cold covering the majority of the US in the 11-20 day outlook. While weather predictions are notoriously volatile, prices in the NYMEX and many regional energy prices will react to these forecasts and what eventually actualizes.

Market Settles 01 28 2021