Nearly all points continued to slide a few more cents Thursday,but afternoon rallies by three key April futures contracts (naturalgas, crude oil and heating oil) had many traders believing thatwould spark a rebound in the gas market today.

Flat to slightly negative performances in energy futures duringmost of the morning cash trading period did nothing to supportphysical gas numbers, one source said. However, he and severalothers felt confident in predicting that later futures upticks,including the one that carried Nymex gas almost 8 cents higher,would have a positive impact on today’s pricing.

A large aggregator was among those expecting at least a modestrally, but he also hoped that warmer West Coast weather would keepany rise in his Southern California border purchases. It will be”interesting” to see how the market reacts to the opposinginfluences of futures support and lower weekend demand, he said.

Meanwhile, a cold front moving through the Midwest toward theNortheast failed to keep market-area quotes from ranging betweenflat and down about a nickel. However, it apparently had a littleinfluence because those declines tended to be less than those of anickel to a dime in several other regions.

Despite the price downturn over the last couple of days, aHouston-based producer remained optimistic. Look at Chicagocitygates, he said; even with essentially no cold weather untilThursday, they’re still more than a dime above the March index of$2.65.

But the outlook for next week is bearish weather-wise. In itslatest six- to 10-day forecast, the National Weather Serviceprojects above normal to much above normal temperatures over almostthe entire U.S. except for small sections of the Pacific Northwestand Upper Plains.

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