La Niña: betting on the weather

US gas prices have perked up. Will the rally last or is the market setting itself up for another fall?

EL NIÑO helped knock US natural gas prices down. Now La Niña might help lift them back up. That's what gas bulls hope, anyway. By mid-June, the Henry Hub benchmark had risen from its late winter lows of less than $2 per million British thermal units to $2.55/mBtu, its highest level in more than six months. The forward curve looks even rosier. Contracts for early 2017 are trading at just over $3/mBtu - still low by historic standards, but a welcome relief for America's hurting gas producers. Signs that the US' record-breaking gas glut is at last easing are one source of strength. On the supply side, steep spending cuts and a dive in the rig count is taking the steam out of a decade-long run o