In what may have been a Pyrrhic victory, bears were successfulpushing futures prices lower Wednesday amid reconfirmed reports ofwarm weather expected this weekend and next week. Prices for theMarch contract finished the session down 5.4 cents at $2.564 inwhat several sources called a lackluster trading session.

For many traders, the real story was not what prices didyesterday, but rather what they did not do. A New Jersey analystnoted yesterday was an “inside day,” because March’s trading rangewas completely inside Tuesday’s range. “[The market opened higher,but couldn’t punch through resistance at $2.63. Then it pressedlower, but couldn’t even match [Tuesday’s] lows.”

Once possible explanation for the lack of sustained momentum ismany traders elected to wait on the sidelines ahead of freshstorage news released yesterday evening. Over the past several daysthe market has been eagerly anticipating the report, which manyfelt could show a withdrawal almost triple last year’s 59 Bcffigure.

As it turned out those estimates were not too far off. Accordingto the American Gas Association, 158 Bcf was pulled from the groundlast week, depleting stocks to 1,404 Bcf or 43% full. However, evenbefore talk could focus on whether the withdrawal was pricepositive, bulls were weighing in with their wallets in last night’sAccess trading session. By 7 PM (EST) the March contract had morethan recouped earlier losses, prancing 5.6 cents higher to $2.620.

While the bulls may have won the battle yesterday, the war isfar from over commented a Dallas-based marketer. “The weatheroutlook couldn’t get much worse, and short-term technicals areturning a bit bearish,” she said. The National Weather Service saidyesterday an area of the nation from the Rockies eastward canexpect above- and much-above normal temperatures next week. Normalreadings are predicted for northern New England and the West, withpockets of below-normal temperatures confined to the PacificNorthwest and the coastline of Southern California.

©Copyright 2000 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. Thepreceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, inwhole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent ofIntelligence Press, Inc.