Chopped

Natural gas futures chopped lower yesterday in a tight, mostlyfeatureless session as traders continued to factor in the nowimminent threat of warming weather for much of the nation. Wideningits discount to outer months, the March contract was the hardesthit by the sell-off, tumbling 2.9 cents to finish at $2.541.Estimated volume was very modest, with just 44,670 contractschanging hands.

Natural gas futures chopped sideways for the second straightsession yesterday as traders were torn between shoulder and wintermonth pricing. While the October contract was limited to a tighttrading range and a 0.2-cent advance to $2.632, the Novemberthrough March strip bounded 4.1 cents higher to $2.978. Estimatedvolume was robust with 110,911 contracts changing hands.

For bull traders yesterday’s natural gas futures session was acase of “no news is bad news” as prices chopped lower in a raresub-50,000 volume session. As usually is the case the promptmonth-September-took the biggest hit, slipping 4.5 cents to finishat an even $2.70.

After opening just below Tuesday’s close, the May futurescontract chopped lazily sideways yesterday before eking out a smallgain before the close. In fact, yesterday’s price action was sosubdued it was hard for some traders to believe it was expirationday at the New York Mercantile Exchange. The May contract completedits tenure as prompt month, expiring at $2.348, up 1.7 cents forthe day.