Example

As an example of just how far the Enron effect is carrying, one of the three Republicans opposing incumbent California Gov. Gray Davis in this year’s elections drew criticism Tuesday because a small Houston-based energy firm in which he invested has ties to one of Enron’s off-balance-sheet partnerships.

Following the example set forth by the natural gas futures market, cash prices started strong Tuesday only to fizzle late in the morning as an unimpressive tropical storm brought spring rains and cooling temperatures to the Gulf and southeastern states. Tropical Storm Allison, the first tropical storm of the season, formed yesterday in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico but did little to slow the late declines in both cash and futures markets. Although prices at many locations were up initially yesterday, and posted average daily increases of a dime or more in some locations, sources agreed those prices will come under downward pressure today.

The futures market followed an early example set by the cashmarket on Tuesday, as early selling fueled by losses in Monday’sAccess trading pushed the market lower for the second day in row.That enabled the November contract to not only gap lower at theopen, but also to gap below key support at $2.35 on its way to alow of $2.295. However, the buyers saw good value at those levelsand bid up the contract to its settle at $2.346, a 4.7 cent lossfor the day.

It hardly came as a surprise to anyone when cash prices took along, hard fall Thursday. The previous day’s screen dive had givena none-too-subtle signal of where cash was going. Double-digitdecreases were prevalent at virtually all points, with some lossesreaching 20 cents.