The U.S. Energy Department released its weekly natural gas inventories data. CNBC’s Sharon Epperson was on the floor of the New York Mercantile Exchange when the news broke.
Epperson said, "The government has reported a draw down of 168,000 billion cubit feet - that's higher than the estimate--159,000 billion." Since the actual number was greater than what was expected, prices immediately started moving higher on the NYMEX.
For instant analysis CNBC’s Liz Claman turned to Chris Jarvis, Founder and President of Caprock Risk Management who said he’s not that surprised by the numbers.
Claman: What’s propelling natural gas prices?
Jarvis: A cold spell in parts of the country, which is bullish. And the contraction in manufacturing (which could off set the increase). The industrial sector is a big end user of natural gas.”
Jarvis added “And keep in mind, next week you could see the total opposite happening. The warm spell coming through now, could have the reverse effect.”
