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To: SliderOnTheBlack who wrote (36799)	2/4/1999 5:16:00 PM
From: Platter	Respond to of 95453

NEW YORK, Feb 4 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil prices reeled lower Thursday as warm weather and depressed refining margins combined to put heavy pressure on the market. In New York, March crude oil futures briefly fell below $12.00 before closing the session at $12.02 a barrel, down 36 cents. The April contract slipped as well, dropping to $12.29 a barrel, down 31 cents, in a technical sell-off. While the losses set-up a bearish session for benchmark West Texas Intermediate/Cushing, traders said differentials for most grades managed to hold their ground Thursday. West Texas Sour/Midland changed hands at $1.39 under WTI/Cushing, and closed the day between minus $1.41 and $1.37 a barrel. It finished in a similar range Wednesday, after suffering losses of more than five cents a barrel against the benchmark. But traders cautioned that the cash market remained weighted to the downside, with a flood of imported crude on offer. Sweet crude in particularly appears well-supplied, as a wide spread between West Texas Intermediate and North Sea Brent is pulling a stream of tankers from West Africa and Europe toward the U.S. Gulf Coast. So far, though, Light Louisiana Sweet/St. James, the main domestic sweet crude, has weathered the storm, trading unchanged at 52 cents a barrel under WTI/Cushing. Heavy Louisiana Sweet/Empire, its sister grade, slipped a bit to trade at 82 and 80 cents under WTI/Cushing on Thursday, while Eugene Island found interest between minus $1.30 and $1.25 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate postings-plus stood at $2.46/2.49 Thursday. U.S. cash crude traders also noted that West Texas Intermediate/Midland traded at 27, 28, and 29 cents under the benchmark in what was described as a generally quiet session.

To: SliderOnTheBlack who wrote (36799)	2/4/1999 5:39:00 PM
From: Think4Yourself	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

FGI's float is 12+ Million shares, and the average volume is about 300,000 shares. The shorts might get away with sitting on the pop, but who cares? Longer term, FGI is going higher. I believe they will soon settle in a higher trading range than they were in up till today. Can't wait till their earnings... FGI and GIFI are my two largest holdings. It is unfortunate that they appear to somewhat compete with each other because they are both outstanding companies. Ken

To: SliderOnTheBlack who wrote (36799)	2/4/1999 8:13:00 PM
From: Rainier	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 95453

Slider, As a fellow FGI zealot, I've also been trying to figure out the reason for the high short position. I was able to piece together the following data from a few different sites: Month Shares Short (in millions) Price Range (9th–8th) Jan 99 ----------2.637 ----------10.56 – 14.25 Dec 98 ---------2.818 ----------11.13 – 19.25 Nov 98 ---------3.006 ----------9.75 – 18.94 Oct 98 --------- 2.680 ----------10.25 – 18.00 Sep 98 ---------2.414 ----------10.25 – 20.13 Aug 98 ---------1.883 ----------17.13 – 27.50 Jul 98 -----------.992 ---------- 26.00 – 33.00 Jun 98 ----------.403 ---------- 30.75 – 44.00 May 98 ---------.559 ---------- 32.63 – 42.00 Apr 98 ----------.589 ---------- 23.75 – 34.00 I believe the short info is as of the 8th day of each month. With that being the case, approximately 900,000 shares were shorted between 9 Jul and 8 Aug. The share price during that time was between $17 and $27, averaging just over $23. (BTW, the highest volume day during that period (6 Aug) saw over 1.28 million shares trade between $17 and $18.75.) The next heaviest shorting period was the prior period, 8 Jun to 8 Jul, when 589,000 shares were shorted. The price during that time averaged in the high $20's. This suggests a few things to me. First, since the bulk of the short position was taken over 6 months ago, I don't think it was done in anticipation of a disappointment in this earnings report. On the other hand, if it had been taken in anticipation of a weak 3rd quarter (which was reported in early Nov?), I would have expected covering following the report. This didn't happen. So, I think your hedge theory makes a lot of sense. Your anticipated mini-pops at $18-$20 and $24-$26 correspond very well with the short positions accumulated in the low $20s (Jul-Aug) and high $20's (Jun-Jul), if the shorts choose to cover just prior to their original sell points. Thanks for all the effort. Best regards, Mike