Ignored

Generally moderate softness dominated the weekend market. With pockets of modest gains tucked in here and there, a large majority of points ranged from flat to down about 15 cents Friday, although most of the losses were confined to single digits. However, San Juan Basin numbers stood out with a plunge of about 35 cents.

The cash market largely ignored weakening weather fundamentals Friday and sent prices higher at most points. Only plunges in the Rockies and at Transco Zone 6-New York City ran contrary to the overall firmness.

Cash prices ignored generally weak weather fundamentals Thursday in favor of focusing on the previous afternoon’s futures spike following the AGA storage report and expectations of serious, widespread heat next week. The result was double-digit advances at nearly all points, with the key exceptions being San Juan Basin flatness and large California declines.

Although fundamentals seemed to be ignored in Tuesday’s mostlysofter market, traders apparently got a wake-up call Wednesday tothe fact that temperatures remained near or below freezing innearly all areas outside the desert Southwest and were expected tostay that way through the end of 2000. The result was largeWednesday advances at nearly all pricing points, with a few gainsexceeding a dollar.

The cash market ignored the preview of winter that was expectedto permeate nearly all U.S. weather over the weekend, insteadfocusing on another dime-plus screen dive and the fact that thechill is likely to be short-lived and was displacing cooling loadin the South. The result was widely varied price drops betweenabout a nickel and nearly 50 cents Friday.

After cascading nearly 15 cents lower Tuesday and Wednesday,natural gas futures rebounded yesterday as traders ignored thebearish technical picture and focused instead on constructivefundamental factors. The August contract slipped at the close, butwas still able to post a 2.1-cent advance for the day to $2.162.

Cash prices ignored a falling screen and the usual lower gasdemand of a weekend, instead using growing heat in the Northeastand Midwest to fashion an overall flat market Friday. The East hadmore of the mild firmness while small declines tended to clustermore in the West. That was best illustrated by the day’s extremes:increases of more than a nickel for citygates in the hot and humidNortheast, as opposed to a drop of a nickel at the PG&Ecitygate, where the utility had a high-inventory OFO in effect (seeTransportation Notes).

For the second straight Thursday, natural gas traders ignored aseemingly bullish American Gas Association storage report bypressuring the market lower in light, long liquidation. The Junecontract was the hardest hit by the sell-off, slipping 6.4 cents to$2.295 in active trading.

Lack of follow-through selling kept the bears guessing yesterdayat Nymex as the market ignored a trio of bearish factors-weather,storage, and cash prices-to trade nearly unchanged on the day. TheNovember contract was limited to a tight trading range and settleddown just 0.4 cents to $2.176 for the day. Estimated volume was43,394.