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FXEmpire   |  May 26 2012 7:59 EDT

By FXEmpire.com

Introduction: Natural gas is nevertheless a major commodity in its own right, which is used for everything from cooking food to heating houses during the winter. Natural Gas is growing much faster than either of its non-renewable fossil fuel competitors, oil and coal.

Do not miss the weekly U.S. gas inventories report. The figures are issued by theEnergy Information Administration (EIA) every Thursday afternoon at 15:30 (released Friday at 15:30 if there was a U.S. bank holiday on Monday). Heres a link to thelatest EIA report. The main natural gas moving figure in there is the change in inventories from the previous week. When it comes to the gas inventories report, were talking about billions of cubic feet, Bcf for short.

When the actual change in inventories number is released, it is the deviation from the expected number that is really important. If the actual inventories figure shows a 24 Bcf rise when an 84 Bcf increase was expected, then that is actually positive for the price of natural gas. All else equal, the price of natural gas should rise after the release.

A barrel of oil has roughly 6 times the energy content of natural gas. If the fuels were perfect substitutes, oil prices would tend to be about 6 times natural gas prices. However, due to various market characteristics discussed briefly above and the ease of using oil, the price of oil has been following a pattern of 8-12 times that of natural gas. However that ratio has spiked dramatically since March 2009.

Weekly Analysis and Recommendation:

Natural Gas ended the week down at 2.618 as investors took profits and the higher then expected inventory shut down investors interests as they sold off the commodity. Working natural gas in storage rose last week to 2,744 billion cubic feet (Bcf) as of Friday, May 18, according to EIAsWeekly Natural Gas Storage Report(WNGSR). An implied storage build of 77 Bcf for the week positioned storage volumes 750 Bcf above year-ago levels.

Highest:2.819

Lowest:2.583

Difference:0.236

Average:2.719

Change %:-3.91

Due to the extreme low price, natural gas rigs are currently down about 31 percent from their level at the same time last year, while oil rigs have risen by 45 percent over the same period. However, increased productivity from shale gas formations (generated by horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing) and rising associated production from expanding oil-directed development activity have helped maintain robust natural gas production.

The combination of one of the warmest winters (November-March) in decades and low spot natural gas prices contributed to low wholesale electric prices at major market locations during the winter of 2011-2012 (see chart below). Warm weather kept electric system load low across the East Coast and helped dampen the need for coal-fired generation. Natural gas generation was up significantly to take advantage of low natural gas prices. Reduced nuclear generation due to outages and reduced hydropower generation both served to moderate declining electricity prices in much of the country.

Temperatures in the lower 48 States during the week ending May 17 were 2.6 degrees warmer than the 30-year normal temperature and 4.9 degrees warmer than the same period last year.The average temperature in the lower 48 States was 64.3 degrees, 2.6 degrees higher than the 30-year normal of 61.7 degrees. While overall temperatures were a few degrees warmer than normal, temperatures but temperatures remained in a moderate range without increasing demand for electricity.

FxEmpire provides in-depth analysis for each currency and commodity we review. Fundamental analysis is provided in three components. We provide a detailed monthly analysis and forecast at the beginning of each month. Then we provide more up to the data analysis and information in our weekly reports.

Historical:

High5.13 January 2011

Low1.903 April 2012

Economic Events: (GMT)

WEEKLY

Economic Highlights of the coming week that affect the AUD, JPY, NZD and USD

Date

Time

Currency

Previous

May 28

23:30

JPY

Household Spending y/y

3.4%

23:50

JPY

Retail Sales y/y

10.3%

May 29

TBD

AUD

HIA New Home Sales m/m

-9.4%

13:00

USD

S&P/CS Composite-20 HPI y/y

-3.5%

14:00

USD

CB Consumer Confidence

69.2

22:45

NZD

Building Consents m/m

19.8%

May 30

1:30

AUD

Retail Sales m/m

0.9%

1:30

AUD

Construction Work Done q/q

-4.6%

14:00

USD

Pending Home Sales m/m

4.1%

23:50

JPY

Prelim Industrial Production m/m

1.3%

May 31

1:00

NZD

NBNZ Business Confidence

35.8

1:30

AUD

Building Approvals m/m

7.4%

1:30

AUD

Private Capital Expenditure q/q

-0.3%

1:30

AUD

Private Sector Credit m/m

0.4%

1:30

JPY

Average Cash Earnings y/y

1.3%

12:15

USD

ADP Non-Farm Employment Change

119K

12:30

USD

Prelim GDP q/q

2.2%

12:30

USD

Unemployment Claims

370K

13:45

USD

Chicago PMI

56.2

15:00

USD

Crude Oil Inventories

0.9M

23:50

JPY

Capital Spending q/y

7.6%

Jun 1

12:30

USD

Non-Farm Employment Change

115K

12:30

USD

Unemployment Rate

8.1%

12:30

USD

Core PCE Price Index m/m

0.2%

12:30

USD

Personal Spending m/m

0.3%

14:00

USD

ISM Manufacturing PMI

54.8

Click here for updated Silver News.

Originally posted here



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