Fueled by follow-through buying on the heels of Monday advances,the futures market ambled higher yesterday as traders weighed theimpact of bullish news expected to be released this afternoon. TheSeptember contract finished up to 2.3 cents at $2.598. Impressiveadvances were also seen in the out months with the October,November and December contracts notching similar gains.

“It was hard to be a seller [Tuesday],” commented one trader whowas hesitant to sell yesterday’s rally ahead of the release offresh American Gas Association storage data today. “The cash marketis pretty quiet, but after last week’s volatility I do not want tobe short futures.”

Another trader went as far as to classify the range of storageinjection expectations. “Below 30 [Bcf] is bullish, 38-50 [Bcf] isneutral and above 50 could send the market lower,” he predicted.However, despite moderating temperatures in many towns across theU.S. this week, he feels it is more important to look where we areand not where we came from. “Temperatures are normal for this timeof year. That may represent a cool-down from last week, but thelast time I checked normal in August was still pretty hot.”

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