Dime

After trading nearly a dime higher for most of the sessionMonday, the futures market collapsed during the last 20 minutes oftrading amid a flurry of selling that was set in motion bysell-stops and wide cash-futures basis. By the time the dust hadsettled, December’s $2.442 close was 11.1 cents off Friday’s leveland nearly 20 cents from session highs. Estimated volume was arobust 76,481.

A skyrocketing futures screen took cash along with it Monday,with increases of up to a dime or more occurring at many pricepoints. The surge carried some Midwestern citygates at Michigan andChicago back to the plus side of $2 for the first time since earlyAugust.

As expected, prices fell Thursday by a nickel to a dime at mostpoints. There was carryover momentum from Wednesday’s late cashsoftness that was pushed along by a drop on the futures screen, amarketer said. A lack of buyers also contributed to the marketweakness, he added. However, he saw Midcontinent prices onPanhandle Eastern, NGPL and ANR rebound to $2.08 after sliding aslow as $2.04 earlier in the day. That and the screen’s afternoonupticks have the marketer looking for upside potential in today’scash trading.

Weekend prices were down by as much as a dime or so almostacross the board Friday. Although the screen’s almost imperceptibledrop provided no further impetus for cash softening, the decreaseswere widely expected as cold areas started warming and warm areasstarted cooling.