As if tethered to a bungie cord, natural gas prices bounced backyesterday at the New York Mercantile Exchange as temperatures alongthe East Coast soared into the 90s. Those record-setting readingsalong with stronger crude oil and physical natural gas prices gavetraders the opportunity to reclaim a large portion of last week’sprice slide. The June contract received the biggest boost, pushing14.5 cents higher to finish at $3.17.

“This market continues to be very emotionally traded,” saidCynthia Kase of New Mexico-based Kase and Company, of the wide23-cent trading range carved out by traders last week. “We werelooking for a little bit deeper correction [to the downside], butit looks like the buyers stepped in,” she said.

“Even buying from all market segments,” explains Tom Saal of NewYork-based Pioneer Futures. “This is an impressive reversal to lastweek’s outside-down week,” he adds pointing to the higher high,lower low and lower close put in last week on the weeklycontinuation chart.

Impressed by bulls’ handiwork yesterday, Saal targetsWednesday’s release of fresh American Gas Association data as thenext potential for fresh bullish news. “I am looking for a 70 Bcfinjection, but anything less than 50 would be decidedly bullish.”Comparatively, the market injected 72 Bcf last year at this time,according to the AGA.

Kase, on the other hand, is more focused on Fibonnacci technicallevels rather than Bcfs in the ground. “Our next critical level is$3.21, which corresponds with a 89% retracement off recent lows,”she said. On a move lower support exists first at the psychological$3.00 barrier ahead of the $2.78 level.

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