Cheap Gas Prices

(Reuters) - Natural gas futures ended higher on Wednesday for a second straight day, as tighter supply-demand fundamentals and forecasts for warm weather offset early selling on the milder outlook for late next week. Gas prices, which rallied 9 percent last week, are nearly flat so far this week, with investors cautious about prices near 3-1/2 month highs ahead of a three-day weekend. NYMEX floor trading will be closed on Monday for the U.S. Memorial Day holiday. Since posting a 10-year low of $1.90 per million British thermal units in April, nearby futures are up nearly 44 percent amid signs that record production was finally slowing while demand was picking up as more electric utilities switch from coal to cheaper gas for power generation. Technical traders had been expecting Monday' ...

(Reuters) - Several clothing retailers, including Limited Brands Inc (LTD.N) and Zumiez Inc (ZUMZ.O), posted better-than-expected sales in April, helping to allay fears that March's strength came from an earlier Easter and a warm start to the spring season. But Costco Wholesale Corp (COST.O) missed Wall Street estimates for the second month in a row, indicating competition with other big-box retailers hurt the biggest U.S. warehouse club operator's performance. Of the eight retailers that had reported April sales by early Thursday, four beat expectations and two missed, according to Thomson Reuters Data. The Thomson Reuters index of analysts' expectations for 20 retailers that report monthly sales at stores open at least a year called for a 1.5 percent increase in April, compared with a ...

(Reuters) - Oil inched above $119 a barrel on Thursday, as optimism over a recovery in the U.S. economy offset the impact of rising global supplies. The U.S. Federal Reserve said on Wednesday it would support growth in the world's top oil consumer if necessary as it left the door open for another round of monetary easing, raising hopes of higher energy demand. "Although yesterday's Fed comments put QE3 on ice for some time, it helped yesterday and it is helping today," Commerzbank's head of commodity research Eugen Weinberg said. "This is even despite the somewhat negative environment given the strong increase in inventories yesterday and possibly the lower geopolitical premium on ongoing talks with Iran." Brent crude gained 12 cents to $119.24 a barrel by 0817 GMT after settling up 55 ...

(Reuters) - Natural gas futures finished sharply lower on Tuesday as forecasts for moderate U.S. weather and an ever growing supply glut sparked selling that knocked the front-month contract to a new 10-year low. Tuesday's slide followed a nearly 2 percent rally on Monday when the market staged a technical bounce after falling 5 percent last week. With storage at a record high for this time of year and production still running at or near an all-time peak, most traders remain skeptical of any upside in prices at least until some sustained heat forces homeowners and businesses to crank up their air conditioners and boost demand. "We're in the (spring) shoulder period, and storage is already jam packed. We've got a big oversupply right now," a New England-based trader said, noting weather ...

(Reuters) - Spain's debt yields broke above 6 percent on Monday as investors worried about its budget, knocking the euro and sending safe-haven German bonds to a record last set at the height of the euro zone crisis. Signs of slowing global growth also undermined sentiment in commodity markets while European equity markets were mostly in positive territory after sharp falls last week. Spanish stocks were lower, however, reflecting concerns about the country's ability to finance its deficit and debt with borrowing costs on the rise. "We're back in full crisis mode," Rabobank strategist Lyn Graham-Taylor said. "It is looking more and more likely that Spain is going to have some form of a bailout." Mixed signals from the European Central Bank (ECB) over its willingness to help the market ...

(Reuters) - The euro fell on Friday, sliding for a second straight week against the dollar and the yen as rising Spanish borrowing costs spooked investors already reluctant to hold the single currency over the weekend. Investors reacted to news that Spain's banks are virtually locked out of credit markets and relied heavily on cheap loans from the European Central Bank in March, and the cost of credit default swaps on Spanish debt to a record high. The worries over Europe's lingering debt crisis fed anxiety over the global economy after data showed China's economy grew less than expected in the first quarter. "We're going into the weekend with market players averse to holding euros," said Michael Woolfolk, senior forex strategist with BNY Mellon in New York. "I think the way you play ...

(Reuters) - Oil markets rebounded from two days of losses on Wednesday as U.S. government data showed a steeper-than-expected drop in domestic fuel stocks, while gold dipped after a four-session rally and copper steadied near a three-month low. Cotton climbed nearly 2 percent in a short-covering rally a day after the U.S. government forecast record-high global cotton stocks, and cocoa and coffee rose in reaction to a strong earthquake off Indonesia that triggered tsunami warnings in the world's No. 3 coffee producer. Grains were modestly higher, helped by a weaker dollar and worries about cold weather in the U.S. wheat belt, and soybeans eased for a third straight day as investors cashed in long positions after prices hit a seven-month peak a day earlier. The 19-commodity Thomson ...

(Reuters) - Treasury debt prices fell on Wednesday, giving back much of the previous day's gains as diminished worries over Europe's fiscally troubled countries and new Treasury supply weighed on the market. European Central Bank Executive Board member Benoit Coeure helped ease concerns over Europe's debt crisis by saying the ECB still had its bond-buying program as an option to employ. This helped damp demand for safe-haven U.S. Treasuries. Analysts said the drag could continue into Thursday, when the U.S. Treasury Department will hold the week's final auction, a sale of 30-year bonds. "Typically the bond supply is somewhat problematic for the street to digest," said Charlie Parker, co-head of U.S. Treasury trading at Barclays Capital in New York. Parker said Wednesday's stock rally, ...

(Reuters) - Gulf of Mexico oil drillers will be busier this year than at any point since the BP (BP.L) oil spill in 2010 that upended their industry and soiled their reputation along with parts of the marshy Louisiana coast. Eight more deepwater rigs are expected in the Gulf this year, based on what oil companies tell contractors including Transocean (RIGN.VX), Ensco (ESV.N) and Seadrill (SDRL.OL). Such an influx would bring the active deepwater count to 29, just short of the level before the well blowout two years ago this month that killed 11 people and destroyed a Transocean rig. The rebound cannot come soon enough for companies that rely on the drilling business. While the increasingly varied economy of southern Louisiana may be recovering, no sector pays like oil and gas. Energy has ...