Somewhat

Weather-related demand remains somewhat meager, but the cashmarket found more than enough support Monday from superchargedenergy futures contracts and Atlantic storm activity to realizegains of about a dime or greater at nearly every point.

A casual observer looking back at yesterday’s natural gasfutures trading might take notice of the somewhat narrow 14-centtrading range and not-so-uncommon-lately 12.1-cent prompt monthgain and conclude that Wednesday was just another ho-hum day at theNew York Mercantile Exchange.

In a somewhat stunning show of bullishness, natural gas futuresprobed higher yesterday as funds and locals followed the lead ofcommercial buying throughout the last hour of trading. On its firstday in the limelight, the new prompt month, October, received thelargest boost of any contract at Nymex, leaping 15.8 cents higherto close at $4.801. In doing so, it set a new all-time high dailysettlement for a prompt contract.

The swing market somewhat resembled a popular breakfast foodWednesday: almost as flat as could be, with a slight lean towardthe softer side.

The somewhat surprising recent firmness of swing prices held uponce again in most cases Friday, refusing to yield to either thenormal drop in weekend demand or a continuing dearth of fundamentalweather support.

The cash market closed out last week on a somewhat balancednote, with new upticks of a nickel or more in the Northeast arrayedagainst drops between a nickel and a dime at western points. Inbetween there was a vast sea of mostly flatness.

Merger rumors that tweaked the stock prices of Chevron andTexaco have cooled somewhat. While the industry awaits word of adeal (or no deal), observers might consider the words of managementand economics professor Lester Thurow.

Merger rumors that tweaked the stock prices of Chevron andTexaco have cooled somewhat. While the industry awaits word of adeal (or no deal), observers might consider the words of managementand economics professor Lester Thurow.

“You can’t win the game if you give the ball away” was aseemingly logical but somewhat superfluous observation made byHoward Cosell on Monday Night Football back in the 1980s. If Cosellwere to have commented on the natural gas futures market yesterday,he probably would have said something like, “The market couldn’tmove lower because there was no additional selling.” And althoughthat comment would also have been redundant, it aptly describes thenature of yesterday’s price action at the New York MercantileExchange, where once early selling dried up, the market was free tobubble higher in near-frictionless trade. The May contract finishedup 3.2 cents to $2.128.