Natural Gas Forecast: Will Warm Weather Put a Lid on the Rally?

By Dean Rogers

Evolving weather models that had previously predicted a cold spell in the Northeast U.S. and in the Great Lakes region are reportedly now forecasting above normal temperatures in early January. This could dampen the likelihood of a further price rally for natural gas in coming weeks, and the charts tend to agree.

Today’s decline was quite negative for the near-term outlook, and $2.16 is an important target that should be tested in coming days. This is near the 0.618 projection of the wave down from $2.386 and the 38 percent retracement of the move up from $1.80. A close below $2.16 would call for $2.09 and $2.03.

NG G6 - eSignal

That said, this is a tough call right now because the market still seems desperate to rally after recently falling to 16 year lows. Wednesday’s decline could be a correction of the move up as prices attempt to extend toward a highly confluent $2.51 level. The late rally in trading after hours on Wednesday indicates $2.31 and even $2.37 might be tested in early trading ahead of Thursday’s EIA Natural Gas Storage report. We expect $2.37 will hold.

It is a bit early to call for a trading range, but we get the sense that is the most likely scenario for natural gas in coming weeks. The boundaries of the range could be quite wide, between approximately $2.03 and $2.37. Trading over the next few days should give us a better sense of what is in store for natural gas prices in early 2016.

This is a brief natural gas forecast for the next day or so. Our weekly Natural Gas Commentary is a much more detailed and thorough analysis. If you are interested in learning more, please sign up for a complimentary four-week trial.

Published by

Dean Rogers, CMT

Dean Rogers, CMT is the general manager of the Kase Call Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He oversees all of Kase and Company, Inc.’s operations including research and development, marketing, and client support. Dean began his career with Kase in early 2001 as a programmer but has developed into Kase’s senior technical analyst. He writes Kase’s award-winning weekly Crude Oil, Natural Gas, and Metals Commentaries. He is an instructor at Kase's classes and webinars and provides all of the necessary training and support for Kase's hedging models and trading indicators for both retail and institutional traders.

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