Consistently

Jeffrey Skilling, the brash, tell-it-like-it-is former CEO of Enron Corp. who has consistently maintained that he did nothing wrong during his 11-year tenure at the company, on Thursday pleaded not guilty to more than three dozen criminal counts in a Houston courtroom. After posting a bond of $5 million in cash, Skilling was freed pending a court appearance scheduled for March 11.

While praising its safety record and consistently high government ratings, President Bush wants tighter financial controls for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in place by Sept. 30 to reduce its burgeoning debt and improve its stature in the competitive electric marketplace.

The end is in sight for the long winning streak chalked up by Canadian natural-gas exporters, as deliveries remain consistently off their formerly torrid pace in setting 14 consecutive annual sales records in the United States. Canadian gas deliveries to the U.S. fell by 5.3% to 2.745 Tcf in the first three-quarters of the current gas contract year that ends Oct. 31 from 2.9 Tcf in the same period of 2000-01, the National Energy Board reports.

The end is in sight for the long winning streak chalked up by Canadian natural-gas exporters, as deliveries remain consistently off their formerly torrid pace in setting 14 consecutive annual sales records in the United States. Canadian gas deliveries to the U.S. fell by 5.3% to 2.745 Tcf in the first three-quarters of the current gas contract year that ends Oct. 31 from 2.9 Tcf in the same period of 2000-01, the National Energy Board reports.

In a remarkably uniform display of softness, prices fell byabout a nickel Tuesday at nearly every point across the board.Rarely has the market been so consistent with the great majority ofdeclines clustered within the range of 3-7 cents and with nogeographical bias.

Natural gas futures at the New York Mercantile Exchange haveconsistently featured choppy trading, high daily volatility, andprice erosion for the last several months. And expiration dayTuesday was no different as traders tested both sides of a largetrading range before depositing the January contract 2.3 centslower to its final resting place at $1.765. And in doing so, theJanuary contract tumbled over a half dollar during its reign as theprompt month.