Wilts

Amid three distinct selling surges, natural gas futures returned to pre-hurricane (Isidore and Lili) levels Thursday as traders grappled with a one-two combination of bearish news. The first blow came before the open when traders learned that Hurricane Lili had weakened prior to landfall. Still reeling from that, traders were again stymied upon learning that a greater-than-expected 47 Bcf was injected into storage last week, according to the Energy Information Administration. Then after holding support at $3.78 for much of the afternoon, the November contract broke lower in the final 30 minutes of trading. It closed at $3.724, down 43.6 cents for the session and more than 50 cents beneath its $4.25 peak notched during the height of the hurricane hype Tuesday.