April 3, 2023 | Daily JAM, Mid Term, UNG |
This week’s Trend of the Week: A Bottom in Natural Gas? I think so. United States Natural Gas Fund (NYSEARCA: UNG) is down 50% YTD. The problem with UNG is that expectations were that Europe would be buying a lot of gas due to sanctions on Russian commodities. What happened instead was that Europe did a great job finding ways to fill in the gaps and had a fairly mild winter. On March 28, natural gas was trading at $2.08/million BTUs. At $2.50, many natural gas producers are actually losing money. That means we’re going to see companies slow down production. While inventory was down the slightest bit on March 17 from the week before, overall inventory is still way above normal for this point in the year. So right now, as we move into the summer cooling season, and while prices are depressed, it’s a good time to build positions in this commodity.
February 23, 2023 | Daily JAM, UNG, Videos |
Today I posted my two-hundred-and-forty-first YouTube video: Quick Pick U.S. Natural Gas Fund Want to grow your portfolio and protect it too? In the toughest investing market in 40 years? Grab my eBook, Your Best Investing Strategy for the Next 5 Years: Free download for subscribers to JubakAM.com. Just click on the image in the right margin. Today’s Quick Pick is United States Natural Gas Fund (NYSEARCA: UNG). The chart for UNG is horrendous, with a peak in August and a steady plummet after that. For 2022, the stock was up about 12%, thanks to late summer surges in price, as natural gas was bid up under the expectation that the war in Ukraine and sanctions on Russia would cause Europe to run out of natural gas. But year to date for 2023, it’s down 44%, as Europe proved better at replacing Russian gas than anyone had expected. As the end of winter approaches, European natural gas stockpiles are at about 65%–above normal for this time of year. UNG has a pattern of up years following down years–in 2020 UNG saw a 43% decline, and in 2021, a 35% increase. As the price of natural gas goes down, demand spikes as buyers look for the cheapest fuels and purchase more natural gas, which sends the pendulum swinging back upward for natural gas providers and funds that track the commodity. Between now and mid-March is a good time to get in on natural gas as we look for the upswing when China and Asia start looking at cheaper natural gas prices and Europe looks to get its stockpile back to 100%.
August 24, 2022 | Daily JAM, Jubak Picks, UNG, Volatility |
On Tuesday U.S. natural gas prices tumbled after the operators of the Freeport liquefied natural gas terminal said production will resume in early to mid-November instead of October as earlier announced. The terminal, which handles almost 20% of U.S. LNG exports, was knocked out of operation by an explosion in June. The trouble at Freeport has been an especially big deal for European LNG shipments since the United States sends almost 75% of its LNG to Europe and that market has been scrambling to replace natural gas from Russia after that country’s invasion of Ukraine. Natural gas futures dropped 6.5% on Tuesday after hitting $10 per million BTUs for the first time since 2008. Today, Wednesday, August 24, natural gas futures for September delivery are up 2.09% as of 1:30 p.m. New York time.
August 12, 2022 | Daily JAM, LNG, Morning Briefing, TELL, UNG, Volatility |
Yesterday, August 11, U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exported Freeport LNG said it was still pulling in small amounts of natural gas from pipelines at its shuttered LNG export plant in Texas to fuel a power plant. And, this is the important part, it still expects the liquefaction plant, which shut due to a fire on June 8, to return to at least partial service in early October. Thursday, U.S. gas futures jumped about 8% on talk of increased gas flows to the Freeport LNG plant, a drop in gas output, and forecasts for more demand for the fuel over the next two weeks than previously expected. The U.S. Natural Gas Fund (UNG) gained 6.06%.
July 26, 2022 | CORN, Daily JAM, Jubak Picks, UNG, Volatility |
At the close today, July 26, the Teucrium Corn Fund (CORN) was up 2.55% and the Teucrium Wheat Fund (WEAT) was ahead 4.11%. Both of those commodity plays outgained the U.S. Natural Gas Fund (UNG) with its 1.38% move higher. But for consistent gains–and the potential for more–I’d have to say that natural gas is my favorite commodity.
June 28, 2022 | COP, CORN, Daily JAM, EQNR, Jubak Picks, Morning Briefing, UNG, Volatility |
The Conference Board’s latest reading on consumer confidence showed consumer expectations in June fell to their lowest level since 2013. The consumer confidence index for June fell to 98.7 from 103.2 in May, below expectations for a reading of 100. The report’s expectations index, which is based on consumers’ short-term outlook for income growth, the job market, and overall business conditions, fell to 66.4, its lowest reading since March 2013.