Despite persistent challenges, the outlook for the North American coal industry has been revised from negative to stable, Moody’s Investors Service said in a new report. 

A combination of fourth quarter 2016 metallurgical coal benchmark prices settling at $200 per metric ton (mt) and natural gas prices hovering around $3/MMbtu, has provided immediate relief for the strained sector.

The rating agency has also revised its price sensitivity assumptions for seaborne coal prices. In the medium-term range, met coal has been lifted to $90-$130/mt from $85-$90/mt, and Newcastle Thermal assumptions have been increased to $50-$65/mt from $53-$58/mt.