Exhibited

Cooling the streak of price firmness exhibited on Monday and Tuesday, natural gas cash averages across the United States dropped for the second straight day on Friday as summer-like temperatures dominated much of the country and Thursday’s news of an early start to the storage injection season began to fully sink in.

While some cash market regions Tuesday exhibited a healthy balance of both gains and declines, the Gulf Coast, Texas and the West Coast displayed mostly losses. Some noted that the recent bouts of mixed pricing going on are likely a result of producers and end users jockeying for position ahead of the summer heat and hurricane season, which is often a time of turbulent price swings.

You’ve got to like the “I will not be pushed” mentality exhibited by the market Wednesday. Less than 24 hours after Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told Congress that the nation has a long-term gas supply problem, natural gas futures turned lower as traders liquidated longs in hopes of taking advantage of short-term bearish rewards.

Following Monday’s dramatic price rout, Tuesday’s tradingexhibited a more sedate demeanor, leaving the December contract totrade within a narrow 6.5-cent range. And while the late-afternoonsell-off had bulls running for cover Monday, consolidation of thoselosses gave them a ray of hope before the close yesterday. Thatrebound was enough to lift the prompt month 3.6-cents to $2.478.