


|


Suggest other news sources for this topic

WIKI ANALYSIS| The article on this company has not been written yet. If you're the first person to write this article, it's a sure thing that you'll be credited as a Top Contributor. For tips on getting started, check out the sample article. |
The United States Natural Gas Fund LP (UNG) is an exchange traded security that is designed to track in percentage terms the movements of natural gas prices. UNG issues units that may be purchased and sold on the NYSE Arca.
The investment objective of USNG is for the changes in percentage terms of its net asset value to reflect the changes in percentage terms of the price of natural gas delivered at the Henry Hub, Louisiana, as measured by the changes in the price of the futures contract on natural gas as traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange (the NYMEX) that is the near month contract to expire, except when the near month contract is within two weeks of expiration, in which case the futures contract will be the next month contract to expire. UNG invests in futures contracts for natural gas, crude oil, heating oil, gasoline, natural gas and other petroleum-based fuels that are traded on the NYMEX, ICE Futures or other United States and foreign exchanges. The Company’s general partner is United States Commodity Funds LLC.
Because UNG is a commodities pool, rather than a traditional equity or bond ETF, it must register a fixed number of shares with the Securities and Exchange Commission. If it wants to increase the number of shares available, it must file papers with the SEC and pay a fee, and then wait for approval before those new shares can be issued. [1]
Since September 2009 UNG underperformed significantly the spot price of the commodity. This is because it follows the percentage change in the price of the commodity’s front month contract. The problem is the market is in contango. In this situation longer-term contracts are priced higher than near-term contracts and the fund will underperform the underlying commodity. Analysts believe that there are two scenarios ahead for UNG. One where UNG will come back in line with the natural gas pricing when and if the contango spread decreases to lower levels. The second where UNG can never catch because the fund is too big and futures roll every month.
References



| ||||||
