Daily Market Update May 10, 2021
Early Morning Update
The Jun ‘21 natural gas contract is trading down $0.02 at $2.94. The Jun ‘21 crude oil contract is up $0.50 at $65.40.
Summary
As another week begins, the weather forecast over the coming days is a continuation of the weekend. After seeing unseasonably cool highs across the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic this weekend, temperatures look to rebound closer to normal toward the end of the week, but not before some areas possibly seeing some late season frost early in the week. California continues to run warmer than normal, with temps in the central valley approaching 100 degrees with elevated fire risk in play. In economic news, the market digested some conflicting economic news on Friday. April’s jobs report came in significantly under forecasts, with 266k jobs added compared to a consensus estimate of 1 million, fueling the debate on additional stimulus in Washington. On the other hand, the TSA reported that airplane travel had hit a pandemic high, with over 1.7 million passengers taking to the skies. These mixed signals bear watching as the vaccination campaign around the country begins to slow in numbers. NYMEX pricing trends saw a slow, but steady rise in the forwards continuing. Cal ‘22 ended up trading up three cents week-over-week at $2.77, with Cals ‘23-’26 up 1-2 cents, all trading around $2.60. The market continues to show strong backwardation, with NYMEX forwards over the 3-9 month horizon all trading at or above $3.