The August natural gas contract again traded within a relatively narrow trading range of just 4.3 cents, settling up a few ticks on the day after a weak gap up last evening. 

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Later contracts were not as strong, though, with only the front of the strip logging gains on the day. 

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The result was that the V/F October/January natural gas contract spread narrowed significantly today after setting recent wides on Friday, which was the subject of our blog then. 

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This comes as forecasts remain hot enough through the next couple of weeks to keep the front of the strip bid, but apparently not hot enough to overcome concerns about growing production. 

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In our Natural Gas Weekly Update for clients today we outlined current weather forecasts and how we expected them to change this week, explaining how that should impact natural gas prices. We also took a deeper dive into current balances, looking at how balances and weather may play off each other in driving price. We noted lingering cool risks into the Ohio River Valley which the Climate Prediction Center reiterated again today in their afternoon update. 

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