Softly

With the April futures contract terminating with a whimper instead of a wail, market-watchers were forced to turn their attention Monday to other things such as the current natural gas storage situation, including estimates for this week’s report. The April futures contract closed its doors for good Monday at $5.365, down only three cents on the day. Of more significance, the contract’s trading range for the session was incredibly tight at just 5.5 cents.

The 2003 swing market opened Tuesday about as most traders had expected — with price softness. Generally the declines were fairly moderate at around a dime or less, although Northern California, Pacific Northwest and Western Canada points stretched their losses to 15-25 cents or so. Northeast citygates provided a rare note of firmness in anticipation of wintry weather remaining in upper New England and spreading to the rest of the region before the weekend.

All points were falling Monday in the general absence of severewinter weather except in parts of the Upper Midwest. For a change,the softness was relatively consistent; although California onceagain registered declines larger than most at the border and Malin,it was not nearly as out of step with the overall market as itoften had been since March began. Most of Monday’s drops werebetween 10 and 20 cents.