Nat-Gas Recovery Brings Only Mixed Trading In Stocks (UNG, UGAZ, DVN, ECA, WPRT, CLNE, CHK)

So what if oil is trading lower.  Traders and investors have voted that they believe the bottom has finally been seen in natural gas, at least for the time being.  Natural gas is higher by $0.116 at $2.583 in July Henry Hub Natural Gas Futures.  There was a high put in at $2.62/MMBtu earlier this morning.  The move follows last week’s gains after a bullish report on weekly gas inventories.

The big move is happening in the exchange-traded product of United States Natural Gas (AMEX: UNG) with a 5.1% gain to $18.03.  If you want to something really wild, the VelocityShares 3x Long Natural Gas ETN (AMEX: UGAZ) is up over 15% at $24.12 due to its triple-leverage.

Devon Energy Corporation (NYSE: DVN) is down 0.8% at $56.91 with a $23 billion market value while Encana Corporation (NYSE: ECA) is up 0.7% at $22.26 with a $16.4 billion market value.

Westport Innovations Inc. (NASDAQ: WPRT) is up 3.8% at $30.09 and volume is light so far today.  T. Boone Pickens, who last week predicted that nat-gas would reach $3.00 again by next summer, is not finding trader love on his Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (NASDAQ: CLNE) as the shares are down 1.6% at $13.78.

Chesapeake Corporation (NYSE: CHK) is also not finding any love today, but it is of course trading around company-specific sentiment right now due to its ongoing pressure against management and CEO Aubrey McClendon.  Chesapeake shares are down 1.4% at $17.84.

Usually we see a move in the producers that coincides with the direction of the commodity.  Monday is so far only showing a mixed bias.

JON C. OGG