The early heat “is what everyone feared,” Schork added. “We’ve slashed our nuclear capacity and the state is absolutely vulnerable to demand spikes.”
Natural gas prices, though, have been dipping over recent weeks. NYMEX gas futures traded around $4.37 per million British thermal units Tuesday. The United States Natural Gas Fund (NYSEArca: UNG) has declined 5.8% and iPath Dow Jones-UBS Natural Gas Total Return Sub-Index ETN (NYSEArca: GAZ) dipped 7.9% over the past week. Nevertheless, natural gas still remains one of the best performing assets this year, with UNG up 18.5% and GAZ up 15.1% year-to-date.
Meanwhile, leveraged natural gas ETFs, including the VelocityShares Daily 3x Inverse Natural Gas ETN (NYSEArca: DGAZ) and the VelocityShares 3x Long Natural Gas ETN (NYSEArca: UGAZ), have been among the most popularly traded geared-commodities ETFs this year. [Inverse, Leveraged ETFs Hit Another AUM Record]
For more information on the natural gas market, visit our natural gas category.
Max Chen contributed to this article.