Natural Gas Futures: Downside appears limited

In light of preliminary readings for natural gas futures markets from CME Group, open interest shrunk by just 786 contracts for the first time after seven consecutive daily builds on Thursday. In the same direction, volume dropped for the second session in a row, this time by around 51.5K contracts.

Natural Gas still targets $3.40/MMBtu

Prices of natural gas met resistance in the $3.30 area per MMBtu on Thursday, triggering the ongoing corrective downside. The knee-jerk was on the back of diminishing open interest and volume, indicative that further pullbacks look somewhat contained in the very near-term.