We've discussed recently the hot new place for natural gas is the potentially enormous Haynesville Shale [Jul 2: Petrohawk Energy and Chesapeake Energy Flying on Haynesville Shale News] (EDIT: Let me add 2 additional names) I've been hoping one of the 4 names closely associated with this space, either Petrohawk Energy (HK), Goodrich Petroleum (GDP), GMX Resources (GMXR), and Comstock Resources (CRK) would sell down to their 50 day moving average now that natural gas has finally been hit. But no mas as the charts below show. Things are going so well, that Goodrich actually placed a 3M share offering at $64 today and the stock is ...

Short term movements in energy markets are very much tied to supply and demand. Seasonal variations in the dynamics for crude oil and natural gas can allow for some very successful trading in these areas. With crude oil prices sitting around record highs of $79 per barrel, and the summer driving season winding down, it might be prudent to take some chips off the table if you purchased shares of the United States Oil Fund (USO) as I suggested back in January when the crude oil ETF was down 40% from its high.

Since then shares of USO have risen more than 35% to $59.43. This is not to say that I would get off of the energy train for good. But if you have an elevated exposure to crude oil specifically, maybe take some profits.