No news was good news on Monday – at least to the bears – as themarket continued to take back gains registered last week in frantichurricane-related trading. That prompted the October contract todrop 7.3 cents to settle at $2.187 yesterday as traders searchedfor any indication that Hurricane Georges (pronounced ZHORZH) wouldaffect natural gas interests in the Gulf of Mexico.

As of 4 PM EST Hurricane Georges was located just off thesoutheast coast of Puerto Rico and moving toward the west-northwestat near 16 MPH. Maximum sustained winds were 110 MPH with gusts tonear 150 MPH over higher terrain, the National Weather Servicereported.

Due to the slow speed and the unpredictable nature of hurricaneforecasting more than 72 hours out, opinions varied as to whetherGeorges would continue on its current path toward Florida, Alabamaand Louisiana or turn to the northeast. “What we saw today was themarket act like a deer frozen in a oncoming headlights of a car,”offered Ed Kennedy of Miami-based Pioneer Futures. He said he wouldstart storm preparations around his home Monday night, but admittedthe lack of sufficient prediction data more than three days outmade it difficult for the market to tack on gains on Monday. “If itweren’t for Georges, this market would fall under its own weight.”However, even if the storm is able to make it into the Gulf,Kennedy doubts it will have any long-term effect on productionbecause of many of the new offshore rigs were built to withstand upto category 5 hurricanes. Georges is still only classified as acategory 3, he continued.

However, the bulls may not have to wait until later in the weekfor the market to come their way. At 4 PM yesterday the NWSannounced the formation of the tenth named storm in this activeAtlantic hurricane season. Tropical Storm Jeanne was located 380miles southeast of the Cape Verde Islands and moving at 14 MPHtoward the northwest. In evening Access trade October was up 3.7cents to $2.224.

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