Evenly

The cash market was approximately evenly divided between higher and lower points Friday, but taking into account the losses being much larger than the gains, it was definitely an overall down day.

Price movement was close to evenly mixed in Thursday’s trading of month-ending supply, but it appeared that losses slightly outnumbered gains. Despite warming trends, there was still a bit of heating load for Friday in parts of the Northeast, Midwest, eastern South and Pacific Northwest, and cash quotes had extra support from November’s expiration-day gain of 28.3 cents Wednesday.

Cash prices were close to evenly divided between gains and losses Monday, with falling points slightly outnumbering the rising ones. On the first official day of fall the market was seeing mostly seasonal weather; that is, it was hot enough in the desert Southwest for Phoenix to have a triple-digit high in the forecast for Tuesday but only warm in the South (highs throughout the 80s) and mild to cool almost everywhere else. Although sporadic and modest heating load has shown up in the last week or so in areas on either side of the Canadian border, it is not yet a significant market factor.

The cash market was approximately evenly mixed in up and down movement Wednesday as weather vagaries and the previous day’s screen downturn tugged at prices in varying ways. In general the West and Midcontinent were softer, while the Gulf Coast, Midwest and Northeast were mixed but leaning mostly to the upside.

The market was almost evenly divided between mostly small gains and losses Tuesday but leaning slightly to the downside — even more so if one gives extra weight to the huge declines in the Rockies that took quotes as low as 40 cents and left a couple of points averaging less than a dollar. Much of the U.S. is in a transition period from unusual recent heat to temperatures more befitting the approach of mid-October.

The cash market turned in a mixed performance Monday that was almost evenly divided among rising and falling points but leaned slightly to the upside. A bit of cooling load in the South and heating load in the West provided support, while forecasts of normal to above normal temperatures in northern market areas (along with Friday’s nickel drop by April futures) dragged some points lower.

Aquila Inc.’s first quarter losses, though anticipated because of its decision to wind down its once mighty wholesale energy trading business, showed a glimmer of positive news Thursday, with the company’s domestic utility networks up more than 50% from a year ago.

Not surprisingly, the energy industry last week was almost evenly split over the issue of whether FERC should re-impose price caps on short-term capacity-release transportation to the California border, with California regulators, utilities, industrial customers and producers in favor of the action, while interstate gas pipelines, power marketers and independent generators serving the state, and local distribution companies (LDCs) want to stick with the status quo.

Not surprisingly, the energy industry is almost evenly split over the issue of whether FERC should re-impose price caps on short-term capacity-release transactions to the California border, with California regulators, utilities, industrial customers and producers in favor of the action, while interstate gas pipelines, power marketers and independent generators serving the state, and local distribution companies (LDCs) want to stick with the status quo.