The futures market was poised to continue lower Wednesday, butafter a lower open failed to entice additional selling,short-covering became the feature of the day. That gave theDecember contract the opportunity it needed to trend into positiveterritory yesterday morning, before settling at $2.213 at theclosing bell. Estimated volume was 75,306.

A Gulf Coast marketer said speculators were the ones mainlyresponsible for the short-covering. “As soon as the market lookedas if it was running out of steam, locals stepped in as buyers. Andwhy not? Most have logged a 25-cent profit over the last coupledays.” He continued saying that although it is unlikely theDecember can break below the $2.00 level, support at $2.14 willreceive at least one more test before expiration. “January,however, might be in for some real trouble,” he added.

He may have a point because the National Weather Servicereleased its 90-day forecast yesterday which calls for normal andabove-normal temperatures for most of the country. Only the GreatLakes region is expected to see below-normal readings. That comesjust a day after the NWS extended its 6- to 10-day forecast forabove to much above-normal temps through the end of November.

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