ÿBetter late than never, bullish traders must have thought onTuesday. After posting a extremely light trading session on Monday,the spot August Nymex futures contract exploded 8.0 cents higher tosettle Tuesday at $2.469. The contract managed to hit a high of$2.485 amid a session when a robust 52,644 estimated totalcontracts changed hands.

August managed to shoot higher despite the fact that July HenryHub bidweek prices are currently trading in the $2.35-38 range. However, one source noted that August is a completely differentmonth from July. “You’ve got to factor in several things. First,July bidweek prices are historically bid a bit lower that wherethey otherwise would be because the 4th of July weekend takes afairly sizable chunk of demand off the market. Plus, August priceshave to factor in the uncertainty of hurricanes.”

He further noted that hotter temperatures are much more certainfor the next two months, and that should help lower the currentstorage surplus to last year. Still, he said each weekly storagereport is traded on expectations before it is released, so hebelieves any report significantly below the 70-90 range of netinjections would help propel the August contract above its current$2.50 resistance level.

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