Nat-Gas Prices Surge in Anticipation of Hot US Weather
August Nymex natural gas (NGQ25) on Friday closed sharply higher by +0.213 (+6.04%).
Aug nat-gas prices on Friday rallied sharply in anticipation of hotter US weather boosting nat-gas demand from electricity providers to power increased air-conditioning usage. Forecaster Atmospheric G2 said Friday that forecasts shifted warmer for most of the US for July 7-11, except for the southern tier and West Coast.
Crude Oil Prices Climb on Positive Trade News
Nat-Gas Prices Surge in Anticipation of Hot US Weather
Crude Oil Settles Higher on US-China Trade Optimism
Stop Missing Market Moves: Get the FREE Barchart Brief – your midday dose of stock movers, trending sectors, and actionable trade ideas, delivered right to your inbox. Sign Up Now!
Nat-gas prices sank to a 1-month nearest-futures low Thursday on a larger-than-expected build in weekly EIA inventories. As of June 20, nat-gas inventories were +6.6% above their 5-year seasonal average, signaling adequate nat-gas supplies. The easing of geopolitical risks also undercut nat-gas prices this week due to the Israel-Iran ceasefire. The ceasefire reduces the likelihood that Iran will close the Strait of Hormuz and disrupt LNG shipments through that Strait, which accounts for approximately 20% of global LNG trade.
Lower-48 state dry gas production on Friday was 105.2 bcf/day (+1.7% y/y), according to BNEF. Lower-48 state gas demand on Friday was 74.3 bcf/day (+1.0% y/y), according to BNEF. Estimated LNG net flows to US LNG export terminals on Friday were 14.8 bcf/day (+7.4% w/w), according to BNEF.
A decline in US electricity output is negative for nat-gas demand from utility providers. The Edison Electric Institute reported Wednesday that total US (lower-48) electricity output in the week ended June 21 fell -3.1% y/y to 91,334 GWh (gigawatt hours), although US electricity output in the 52-week period ending June 21 rose +2.6% y/y to 4,243,923 GWh.
Thursday's weekly EIA report was bearish for nat-gas prices since nat-gas inventories for the week ended June 20 rose +96 bcf, above the consensus of +88 bcf and the 5-year average for the week of +79 bcf. As of June 20, nat-gas inventories were down -6.6% y/y, but were +6.6% above their 5-year seasonal average, signaling adequate nat-gas supplies. As of June 23, gas storage in Europe was 57% full, compared to the 5-year seasonal average of 66% full for this time of year.
Baker Hughes reported Friday that the number of active US nat-gas drilling rigs in the week ending June 27 fell by -2 to 109 rigs, slightly below the 15-month high of 114 rigs from June 6. In the past nine months, gas rigs have risen from the 4-year low of 94 rigs posted in September 2024.
On the date of publication, Rich Asplund did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Barchart.com
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Insider
11 minutes ago
- Business Insider
Anna Wintour is hiring at Vogue. Here's how to thrive when your boss used to have your job.
Whomever replaces Anna Wintour in running day-to-day operations at American Vogue will have some enormous stilettos to fill. That's partly because Wintour, who's 75, has been at the job for nearly four decades and is a legend in the business. It's also because whoever comes next will report to her. Wintour, who became Vogue's editor in chief in 1988, is giving up that role. However, she'll remain global editorial director at the magazine and chief content officer for its parent company, Condé Nast, the company said Thursday. Taking on a senior role, similar to the one Wintour vacated at Vogue, is often challenging, especially when the predecessor remains on hand, leadership experts told Business Insider. Incoming leaders are wise to signal that they want to make changes without abandoning what makes an organization work, said Kevin Groves, a professor of management at Pepperdine's Graziadio Business School. "We're preserving what's most important to us, while recognizing our environment has changed," he said. Here are three pieces of advice on taking over after a leader who looms large — and who might still be down the hall. Don't be impatient Stepping into this position successfully starts with indicating sincere interest in the role and prioritizing what's best for the organization, Nancy Ho, an executive coach based in Singapore, told BI. "You cannot be impatient and rush into it. It should not be seen like you're power-hungry or claiming a role prematurely," Ho said. Instead, she said, new leaders need to focus on understanding a company's culture and how they can position themselves as an asset to the organization. James Reed, CEO of the UK-based recruitment company Reed, said there is no harm in declaring to your boss that you are ambitious and aim to lead an organization, "even if you avoid explicitly saying you're after their job." "Ask what you need to learn and what more you can contribute to support them," Reed said. "Then they will be aware of your ambition but appreciate that you are seeking to help and learn from them rather than undermine them." Don't rock the boat too early Ho said it's important not to make drastic changes too soon upon getting the job. Ho recommended that the first step is acknowledging the good work done before them. Then, they should gain the team's trust by carefully working with them and making small, gradual changes to improve the organization's effectiveness. "When there's a certain buy-in, and people are more comfortable with a different leader, then you introduce changes," she said. Sabina Nawaz, a US-based CEO coach, said new leaders should not make changes for at least the first three months because the first thing to do after receiving the title is "to be curious." "Go on a listening tour, excavate the reasons behind decisions or actions, try to make sense of things from the perspective of others: given that they're smart and well-meaning, what did they have in mind when they acted this way," Nawaz said. Christian Tröster, a professor of leadership and organizational behavior at Germany's Kühne Logistics University, told BI that new leaders can demonstrate they're becoming part of the organization by being careful not to suggest that everything should change. "Because then you're showing that you are not like them, that you cannot be trusted," Tröster said. "Then you don't have the commitment of your employees to actually go with you." Tröster said that when an incoming leader would have to report to the person who held the post in the past, it's important to have a conversation about expectations. He said that while org charts are often clear, layers are often not always evident, including what relationships people have and who they tend to go to for advice. "I would try to make that visible," Tröster said. That way, he said, workers know who they're expected to go to and leaders and employees can agree to the arrangement. Don't be afraid to be different For those taking over a new role while their predecessor is still around — especially someone as "established and admired" as Anna Wintour, it's important to take advantage of your access to them, Amanda Augustine, a career coach at told BI via email. "Start the job as a sponge, learning what you can from your predecessor and other colleagues," she said, adding that it's important not to stay in information-gathering mode forever. Jochen Menges, a professor of leadership at the University of Zurich and the University of Cambridge, told BI that new leaders should "be different" and avoid trying to replicate the exact leadership style or strategy of the person they're replacing. "If they're too close, then they'll seem to be a copy, and then they can never live up," he said. When new bosses are different in some ways, Menges said, they can be "a leader in their own right."
Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
BofA Reiterates Buy as Agora (API) Gains Traction in Live Engagement
Agora Inc. (NASDAQ:API) is one of the 10 best debt-free IT penny stocks to buy. On June 28, Bank of America Securities' analyst Daley Li reiterated a Buy rating on Agora (NASDAQ:API), setting a price target of $7.10. Agora's Q1 2025 results showed modest top-line growth, with revenue up 1% year-over-year. While overall growth was limited, the company's international business stood out, benefiting from stronger demand in areas like live shopping and entertainment. A consumer smiling as they engage with streaming apps and voice platforms. For the second quarter, management guided for core revenue growth of 7% to 13% year-over-year. This range broadly matches market expectations and suggests that conditions are starting to improve—particularly in China's social entertainment and education markets—while international demand continues to hold up well. The analyst also pointed to signs of progress on the profitability front. Q1 2025 was Agora's second straight profitable quarter, along with an improvement in gross margins. The company is also commanding a stronger net cash position which adds further flexibility, allowing it to pursue growth opportunities like in the field of AI. Agora Inc. (NASDAQ:API) is a China-based company that provides a real-time engagement platform-as-a-service (PaaS), enabling developers to embed voice, video, and live interactive streaming capabilities into their applications. While we acknowledge the potential of API as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: The Best and Worst Dow Stocks for the Next 12 Months and 10 Best Tech Stocks to Buy According to Billionaires. Disclosure: None.
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
5 Top Bargain Stocks Ready for a Bull Run
Alphabet and Salesforce stocks are in the bargain bin, but both have solid growth opportunities ahead. Alibaba is one of the cheapest stocks out there and is becoming an artificial intelligence (AI) leader in China. AMD has a big opportunity with AI inference, while TSMC has made itself an invaluable part of the semiconductor value chain. 10 stocks we like better than Alphabet › While the stock market has rallied from its lows earlier this year, there are still nice bargains in the tech space. Let's look at five bargain tech stocks ready for a bull run. Trading at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of below 16.5x analyst 2025 estimates, Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NASDAQ: GOOG) is the cheapest of the megacap tech stocks. While best known for its Google search engine, Alphabet has a solid collection of market-leading and emerging businesses. Its YouTube streaming service is the most-watched in the world and the fourth-largest digital advertising platform. Meanwhile, its fast-growing Google Cloud service is the third-largest cloud computing company on the planet. On the emerging technology side, the company has jumped out to the lead in autonomous driving with its Waymo robotaxi service, while it's also at the forefront of quantum computing with its Willow chip. While there is some worry about the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on its search business, Google has a strong offering through its Gemini model. In addition, the company has big distribution and ad network advantages. With its new AI mode, users also don't have to even leave its popular Chrome browser and can conveniently toggle between AI, search, and news to get the answers they are seeking. Expect Alphabet to be an AI winner, not an AI loser, setting up the stock for solid gains in the years ahead. Software-as-as-service (SaaS) stocks historically trade at premium valuations due to their recurring revenue models and strong visibility. However, with a forward P/E of around 20.5x and a price/earnings-to-growth (PEG) ratio of 0.5 -- with PEGs below 1 indicating a stock is undervalued -- Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) currently finds its stock on the clearance rack. Despite its low valuation, Salesforce has strong growth opportunities ahead. It is looking to become a leader in agentic AI through its Agentforce platform, where customers can create AI agents that will complete tasks with little human intervention. Even though the product has only been available for two quarters, Salesforce already has more than 4,000 paying customers and many more in pilots. Its Data Cloud offering, which helps customers unify their data into a single source, has also seen huge growth. The company's AI agent strategy is already evolving, as it is looking to tightly integrate Agentforce and Data Cloud with its apps and metadata to help lead the way in digital labor. In order to help increase adoption and improve customer satisfaction, the company also recently introduced a new flexible Agentforce consumption-based pricing model that is more aligned with outcomes. If Salesforce can become an AI agent leader, then the stock should have strong upside from here. Trading at a forward P/E of just 10 times and a cash-rich balance sheet, Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) is one of the cheapest stocks around. The company is both an e-commerce and cloud computing leader in China, and it has been seeing strong AI momentum. Earlier this year, it announced that Apple would use its AI models to help power its Apple Intelligence features in China, and it just launched new Qwen3 AI models that are compatible with Apple devices. At the same time, the company has done a great job turning around its core e-commerce platforms by first investing to reaccelerate its gross merchandise volume (GMV) growth and then better monetizing that higher GMV through a small software fee and its AI-powered marketing tool, Quanzhantui. It's also seen strong momentum in its Cloud Intelligence segment. Last quarter, the segment's revenue jumped by 18%, while AI-related revenue more than doubled for the seventh straight quarter. In addition, the company expects its international commerce segment (AIDC) to turn profitable within the next year, which would be a big earnings driver. With a forward P/E of 23 times and a PEG of just 0.2 times, Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) is one of the cheapest chip stocks out there. The company has been seeing strong revenue growth and become the market leader in central processing units (CPUs) in the data center arena. That said, the company's biggest opportunity moving forward is with its graphics processing units (GPUs). While the company is a distant second behind market-leader Nvidia, it has carved out a nice niche with AI inference, which isn't as technically demanding as training and where costs become more important. This is key for AMD, as the inference market is eventually expected to become the much bigger market. If it can only take a little share away from Nvidia in this area, AMD should see very strong growth ahead. With a forward P/E of around 19 times and a PEG near 1, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE: TSM) remains attractively valued. The company is the leading semiconductor manufacturing contractor in the world, making chips for companies like Nvidia, AMD, and Apple. Semiconductor manufacturing is a difficult business, and with its main competitors Intel and Samsung struggling, TSMC has turned into the primary manufacturer of advanced chips. This has given it strong pricing power and helped it become an invaluable partner to chip designers. As such, TSMC is one of the best-positioned companies to continue to benefit from increasing AI infrastructure spending. It also has a big future opportunity with autonomous driving and robotaxis, as these cars will require a lot of advanced chips, as well. Before you buy stock in Alphabet, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Alphabet wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $687,731!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $945,846!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 818% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 175% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 23, 2025 Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Geoffrey Seiler has positions in Alphabet and Salesforce. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Alphabet, Apple, Intel, Nvidia, Salesforce, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. The Motley Fool recommends Alibaba Group and recommends the following options: short August 2025 $24 calls on Intel. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 5 Top Bargain Stocks Ready for a Bull Run was originally published by The Motley Fool
