US GAS: Futures End Near Flat

By Edward Welsch

Natural-gas futures settled near unchanged Wednesday ahead of the release of natural-gas storage data expected to show a smaller-than-normal build in gas supplies, and as storm activity in the Gulf of Mexico remained unthreatening to U.S. energy infrastructure.

The National Hurricane Center reported that a low-pressure area in the Gulf of Mexico formed into a tropical storm overnight, but is unlikely to strengthen enough to disrupt energy supplies.

Natural gas for September delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled up 2.7 cents, or 0.6%, at $4.324 a million British thermal units. The front-month contract dipped to a new 10-week low during the day and some longer-dated gas futures ended in negative territory, which traders attributed to concerns over the long-term pace of economic growth that hit other markets Wednesday.

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