Natural gas futures start the week lower

The market for natural gas futures opened in negative territory in the United States on Monday as the country’s updated forecasting models pointed to cooler temperatures covering most of the US over the next two weeks.

Prices for the commodity’s futures slumped by 1.3 percent to $2.905 per million British thermal units (btu) as trading opened for the week.

Last week, the commodity lost around 2.6 percent.

A cool front will sweep across the eastern U.S. the next few days with heavy showers and powerful thunderstorms.

Longer-term models showed considerably cooler temperatures for late next weekend into the following week as weather systems over southern Canada advance more aggressively into the northern and eastern U.S.

Natural gas prices have closely tracked weather forecasts in recent weeks, as traders try to gauge the impact of shifting outlooks on early summer cooling demand.
Nearly 50 percent of all U.S. households use gas for heating.

Total natural gas in storage currently stands at 2.004 trillion cubic feet (tcf), according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 27.4 percent lower than levels at this time a year ago and roughly 19.9 percent, below the five-year average for this time of year.

Record high domestic production levels have overshadowed the fact that stocks in storage are well below their seasonal averages for this time of year.