Aftershocks

With the industry is still awash in talk surrounding the Bank of Montreal’s (BMO) recent natural gas trading losses of C$350-450 million (US$313.70-403.33 million), the aftershocks and tremors continue to be felt by others in the industry, including Valhalla, NY-based brokerage Optionable Inc., which reportedly has been linked to the bank. Some market watchers in their analysis of the event have gone as far as calling the natural gas market a “Catch-22,” where you get in just as much trouble by hedging as not hedging.

With the industry is still awash in talk surrounding the Bank of Montreal’s (BMO) recent natural gas trading losses of C$350-450 million (US$313.70-403.33 million), the aftershocks and tremors continue to be felt by others in the industry (see related story), including Valhalla, NY-based brokerage Optionable Inc., which reportedly has been linked to the bank. Some market watchers in their analysis of the event have gone as far as calling the natural gas market a “Catch-22,” where you get in just as much trouble by hedging as not hedging.

The swing market was experiencing only mild aftershocks Thursday following the major earthquakes earlier in the week. Except for some gains in the Rockies, the price path remained downhill everywhere else but the slope was getting less steep. The calm-down was welcomed by traders, since it lessened the stress of price hyper-volatility and also allowed them to focus more on March bidweek business.