Advances

The rise in cash prices — prompted by widespread heat waves and a lengthy string of futures advances — continued Wednesday, but signs were surfacing that Wednesday likely represented the market’s peak this week and softness would be setting in Thursday.

Small single-digit advances dominated the market Monday as (1) industrial demand picked up again after the holiday weekend, (2) futures remained supportive of physical prices and (3) a cold front invading the Midwest from Canada late last week had spread southward to Texas and eastward into the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.

The swing market achieved a fairly substantial recovery Monday from weekend softness. Advances ranged from about a nickel at a couple of South Texas points to more than 30 cents in the Southwest basins. Most were in double digits between a dime and a quarter.

Culminating a week of progress in pulling together the financing underpinning of its exit from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. on Friday announced it intends to offer $6.7 billion in first mortgage bonds to help pay credit claims in its $12 billion utility bankruptcy, the largest in U. S. history. This followed announcement earlier in the week that the utility secured $2.9 billion in credit facility commitments and authorization from California state regulators for its new financial structure.

Culminating a week of progress in pulling together the financing underpinning of its exit from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. on Friday announced that it intends to offer $6.7 billion in first mortgage bonds to help pay credit claims in its $12 billion utility bankruptcy. This followed announcement earlier in the week that the utility secured $2.9 billion in credit facility commitments and authorization from California state regulators for its new financial structure.

Ending a five-session string of advances, the natural gas futures market turned lower Wednesday as traders lightened their long positions in sympathy with losses in the nearby crude oil pit and ahead of the release of fresh gas storage data Thursday. And while bears were undoubtedly awakened by April’s 19-cents sell-off and $5.375 settlement, the bulls fully expect nearby support to hold and provide the market with a springboard to higher levels.

For the third session in a row, natural gas futures opened in negative territory. However, in sharp contrast to the restrained buying seen Monday and Tuesday, the market accelerated higher Wednesday amid waves of technical and fundamental buying.

As baseball great Yogi Berra might have observed about the spot gas market, it was like deja vu all over again. For the second Monday in a row, prices were up sharply at most points for much the same reason: weather turned out to be colder than forecasts had indicated.

Buoyed by waves of short-covering, the natural gas futures market turned higher Friday as traders alleviated oversold conditions and took back a portion of last week’s considerable losses.