Natural gas futures and related exchange traded funds plunged Wednesday as forecasts show milder-than-expected weather ahead.
The United States Natural Gas Fund (NYSEArca: UNG) fell 6.3% Wednesday, breaking below its long-term, 200-day simple moving average, while the Nymex natural gas futures declined 7.1% to $2.97 per million British thermal units.
Meanwhile, aggressive, risk-tolerant traders exploited plummeting natural gas prices with leveraged exchange traded products such as the VelocityShares Daily 3x Inverse Natural Gas ETN (NYSEArca: DGAZ), which seeks to provide the daily inverse 3x or -300% performance of NYMEX natural gas futures. The ProShares UltraShort Bloomberg Natural Gas (NYSEArca: KOLD) provides the daily inverse 2x or -200% performance. On Wednesday, DGAZ surged 19.2% and KOLD jumped 12.9%.
Natural gas prices have been advancing on the sudden cold snap that gripped much of America as heating demand increased to fight off the winter chill. However, fresh models released overnight revealed temperatures won’t be as cold as previously expected through both the upcoming six- to 10-day and eight- to 14-day periods, according to Investing.com.