Tunneled

Amid a devastating combination of weak cash prices andpost-storage-release selling, natural gas futures tunneled lowerWednesday afternoon in a long liquidation frenzy that caught morethan a few traders off guard. After checking to its highest levelin more than a month early in the trading session, the Aprilcontract picked up downward momentum throughout the afternoon tofinish the day at $5.384, or 23.7 cents lower, but 28.7 cents morethan where it was when it began its tenure as prompt month atNymex.