Downward

Shrinking demand due to warmer weather throughout the countryconspired with a 6.1-cent drop on the Nymex futures contractThursday to put an end to a small and short-lived boost from arelatively bullish storage report. Friday’s cash prices retreatedan average of 3-4 cents in most areas, erasing the small gains fromThursday’s trading, and bringing cash back to the level it hoveredaround most of the week.

Texaco joined the growing crowd of producers revising downwardcapital expenditures for 1999. The company said its 1999 capexwould total $3.7 billion, including subsidiaries and affiliates,down $600 million from its original $4.3 billion plan. Chevron,Arco and Unocal announced similar reductions last month.

Cash prices across the board Friday displayed softness for thesecond day in a row, reflecting a moderating weather forecast forthe weekend and further into this week. Despite a small late bounceback in some markets, prices in most areas finished the dayaveraging 1 to 10 cents less than Thursday’s levels.

Cash prices finally turned downward Thursday, a day later thanseveral sources had expected. Even with the futures screen staginga modest rally, cash traders were unable to ignore the previous twodays’ weakness in the Nymex pit, the continuing lack of weatherfundamentals and yet another bearish storage report that once againemphasised how close injection demand is getting to disappearing.

After breaking out of its downward trading channel and reachinga high of $2.24, the June Nymex contract fell back considerablyFriday and settled the day up only 0.8 cents to $2.167. Strongtechnical buying and position covering ahead of the weekend seemedto spearhead the rally, but the door to even higher prices slammedshut not long before the closing bell.