Spice

Fueled by a steady stream of short-covering, natural gas futuresambled higher for much of the session yesterday before erupting inthe last 30 minutes amid a frenzy of market-on-close buy orders.That enabled the November contract to push through recent highsabove $3.10 and settle up 8.1 cents at $3.092. Strength was equallyimpressive in the new prompt contract, December, which finished up7.5 cents at $3.223. Estimated volume across all contracts washeavy, with 112,119 positions changing hands.