Natural-gas prices rallied Thursday, with traders shocked by a more than 46% jump in prices at the settlement, as the front-month February futures contract expired at the end of the trading session. Natural gas for February delivery NGG22, +37.95% settled at $6.265 per million British thermal units, up $1.99, or 46.5% on the New York Mercantile Exchange, according to Dow Jones Market Data – the largest one-day percentage move on record and highest finish since October. The 219 billion-cubic-foot weekly fall in U.S. supplies of the fuel reported by the Energy Information Administration Thursday leaves stockpiles more than 10% below last year’s levels, Tyler Richey, co-editor at Sevens Report Research, said ahead of the Nymex settlement. Meanwhile, oil futures posted their first loss in three sessions on Thursday, easing back from the multiyear highs seen a day earlier. Traders remained focused on the Russia-Ukraine situation and the possibility of a disruption to global crude supplies. March West Texas Intermediate crude CLH22, -0.68% fell 74 cents, or nearly 0.9%, to settle at $86.61 a barrel, after settling Wednesday at $87.35, the highest front-month contract finish since October 2014.
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