Exchange

Natural gas futures trading at the New York Mercantile Exchangestarted the week slightly on the down side Monday, as bearishfundamentals once again set the tone for a weaker trading session.The March Futures contract opened down 4.2 cents from Friday’ssettle, and continued the day trading in a tight 5-cent range toclose down 3.3 cents at $1.744. “As far as fundamentals areconcerned, the outlook looks bearish for this contract,” one tradersaid. “You have extremely mild weather and no support at Nymex and,certainly, storage numbers are still significant.”

Traders put bearish fundamentals aside yesterday at the New YorkMercantile exchange when short-covering and some constructive dailychart features helped the expiring February contract spike higherin active trading. Estimated volume was high, with 134,852contracts changing hands. But despite February’s dramatic 9.6-centadvance to settle at $1.810, many doubt that the market will beable to hold on to those gains when the March contract makes itsdebut today as the prompt month.

Southern Co. is seeking a Securities and Exchange Commissionwaiver of Public Utility Holding Company Act rules so it can doubleits already massive investment program in nonregulated powergeneration assets primarily in North America over the next fewyears.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) last weekapproved a New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) application totrade electricity futures and options based on delivery at thePennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland (PJM) western hub. And slated forapproval today is the proposed and competing Chicago Board of Trade(CBOT) PJM western hub electricity futures contract.

Choppy trading continued at the New York Mercantile Exchangeyesterday as the futures market was pressured lower early, only tocome roaring back in the afternoon. The February contract finishedup 3.9 cents to $1.809.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) approved a NewYork Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) application to trade electricityfutures and options based on delivery at the Pennsylvania-NewJersey-Maryland (PJM) western hub.

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.

Enron Corp. notified the Securities and Exchange Commission lastweek it is considering an unsolicited offer from an unidentifiedcompany for its 53.5% share of Enron Oil and Gas, one of thelargest independent gas producers in the U.S. According to thesolicitation, the third party would acquire Enron’s shares in EOGand make an offer for all the outstanding shares. It also wouldrequire that Enron dispose of certain other assets.

Enron Corp. made an SC13D filing with the Securities andExchange Commission on Tuesday to inform the commission it hasreceived an unsolicited offer for its 53.5% share of Enron Oil andGas, one of the largest independent gas producers in the U.S.According to the solicitation, the unnamed third party wouldacquire Enron’s shares in EOG and make an offer for all theoutstanding shares. The third party also would require that Enrondispose of certain other assets.