Following one of the quietest trading sessions in recent memoryThursday, the futures market snapped back to life Friday as tradersetched out a wide, 20-cent range in bumpy, pre-weekend dealings.After trading as low as $2.55 and as high as $2.76 the Novembercontract finished the week strongly, gaining 5 cents to $2.692.Estimated volume of 79,860 confirmed the heavy activity.

“A wild ride,” was one Chicago trader’s description of themarket after watching prices rocket from the mid-$2.50s tomid-$2.70s in the first two hours of trading. “The over-the-countermarket came out offered at $2.57 and quickly fell to $2.55. Butonce the screen opened the shorts were forced to cover, and pricesshot higher,” he said.

For the second Friday in a row the November contract advanced anickel despite double digit declines in the cash market. NGI’sHenry Hub average for today is $2.35, 15 cents less than Friday’s.However, Gulf Coast trading points were not the only onesexperiencing price erosion Friday. Delivered prices, pressured byweekend forecasts calling for normal and above-normal temperaturesin key Northeast and Midwest consumption zones, were also siftinglower. “There were times [Friday] that we were trading weekendChicago gas at fifteen and twenty cents below the screen,” thetrader added.

However, that pricing anomaly will likely be corrected this weekas cool air begins to filter back down from Canada. The NationalWeather Service calls for below normal temperatures for the entireNortheast extending south to the Carolinas heading into this (Oct.14-18) weekend. Meanwhile, the Mississippi and Ohio River Valleysincluding the Great Lakes regions will experience normal readings.Nearly unchanged is the forecast for the West, which is expected tosee above and much-above normal mercury readings.

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