Financial stocks were advancing pre-bell Thursday, with the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) up 0.5%.
The Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (FAS) was 1.4% higher and its bearish counterpart Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares (FAZ) was down 1.1%.
Brookfield (BN) stock was up more than 1% after the company reported higher Q1 distributable earnings and revenue.
US natural gas stocks rose by 85 billion cubic feet in the week ended May 8, smaller than the 87 billion gain expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg as of 7:35 am ET and following an increase of 63 billion cubic feet in the previous week.Stocks at 2.290 trillion cubic feet are 2.3% higher than in the comparable week a year ago and 6.5% above their 5-year average.
Natural gas prices eased Thursday ahead of fresh storage data on cooler long-term forecasts.Gas for June delivery was last seen down $0.03 to US$2.83 per million British thermal units.The drop comes as long-term forecasts from the National Weather Service expect most states between the Rocky Mountains and Mississippi River to see seasonal or cooler temperatures over the its six to 10-day outlook, cutting into cooling demand.The Energy Information Administration will release its weekly survey of inventories of the fuel, with another large injection into storage expected."We are projecting a +86 (billion cubic foot rise) but should we see a number over 90 Bcf then the support level should fail and we could drop back to near $2.75. A storage number in the low 80's could give the bulls a reason to push back towards $3 but without some help from the weather maps," Gary Cunningham, Director of Market Research at Tradition Energy, noted.