Distance

Despite enduring a topsy-turvy week of large swings in both directions, March natural gas futures finished the week within shouting distance of where they began. After hitting a high of $8.650 late in the afternoon, the prompt month settled at $8.613, up 26.6 cents on the day and 10.6 cents higher than the contract’s previous-week close.

With Tropical Storm Cindy now an afterthought and Hurricane Dennis still off in the distance, there wasn’t enough “storm hype” around to keep nearly all points from ranging from flat to down nearly 30 cents Thursday. Disappearing cooling load in the Northeast and Midwest market areas also was a factor. A couple of points eked out small gains of slightly under a nickel.

Cash prices were mixed Tuesday with some points down a dime while others were up by a similar amount, but the general sentiment in the market was moderately bearish because of mild weather conditions persisting across most of the country. Temperatures in the Midwest, Ohio Valley, and parts of the Midcontinent and South remain well above normal.

Cash prices were mixed Tuesday with some points down a dime while others were up by a similar amount, but the general sentiment in the market was moderately bearish because of mild weather conditions persisting across most of the country. Temperatures in the Midwest, Ohio Valley, and parts of the Midcontinent and South remain well above normal.

Putting some more distance between the declines experienced last week, July natural gas futures continued its run Wednesday, trading up 18.5 cents to settle at $6.489, a far cry from last Wednesday’s $5.96 low.

‘Not so fast’ was the overwhelming message given Friday as the federal judge handling the Enron Corp. securities lawsuit ruled against several major financial institutions, law firms and Arthur Andersen, denying most defendants’ motions to be dismissed from the case. With the move, Enron shareholders will be able to begin the process of depositions and evidence discovery in the case, according to the University of California, which is lead plaintiff in the shareholders’ class action suit against the one-time energy giant.

Natural gas futures are within striking distance of new 10-week highs, after traders bid up the market Thursday morning on price-constructive technical factors. After filling in the nagging $2.51-55 chart gap on Wednesday, the April contract rallied at the close to notch a new eight week high at $2.585. However, that was only the beginning, because the contract gapped higher in Thursday morning, as buy-stops initiated a wave of computer-generated fund buying. Light profit-taking at the closing bell shifted the prompt month off its $2.82 high. It closed 19 cents stronger at $2.756 amid extraordinary estimated volume of 158,816.

After dropping 14.2 cents and coming within striking distance of its 40-day moving average at $2.25 on Monday, March natural gas futures rebounded yesterday as last-minute position squaring by fund and local traders was enough to promote the contract back above the $2.40 mark in the final minutes before the contract’s expiry. March’s final settlement, which is computed by averaging the last 30 minutes of trading, was $2.388, up 8.1 cents for the session and 32.1 cents higher than where it was when it began its tenure as prompt month back on Jan. 29. By comparison, the buying in the out months was more conservative, leaving the 12-month strip with a modest 3.4-cent gain to finish at $2.73.

Overall, business for some of the major natural gas industry players — El Paso Corp., Kinder Morgan Inc., Duke Energy, Williams, Dynegy Corp., Calpine Corp. and Mirant — is “good,” but “first they need to show that their businesses have no similarity to Enron’s,” said Credit Suisse First Boston analyst Curt Launer. Launer recapped CSFB’s outlook for the natural gas sector, joined by power analysts to review what’s ahead for the gas and power industry.