Explanations

Could astrology have the answer for why gas prices rose to $3 last week? Explanations are getting pretty hard to come by particularly when a near record warm winter is coming to a close and working gas levels in storage are expected to end the heating season more than double what they were at the same time last year.

For those who are still scrambling for explanations on why gasprices have reached record levels, Salomon Smith Barney (SSB)meteorologist Jon Davis offered a brief synopsis last week of whathappened with the weather last month. November 2000 was the secondcoldest November in 106 years and it was a complete reversal fromNovember 1999, which was the warmest November in 106 years.

For those who are still scrambling for explanations on why gasprices have reached record levels, Salomon Smith Barney (SSB)meteorologist Jon Davis offered a brief synopsis last week of whathappened with the weather last month. November 2000 was the secondcoldest November in 106 years and it was a complete reversal fromNovember 1999, which was the warmest November in 106 years.

After a lengthy absence, “following the screen” was back invogue Friday among trader explanations for cash market movement.”How else are you going to justify rising Northeast prices for whatis normally a lower-demand weekend period?” asked a largeaggregator. A stormy front was moving beyond the East Coast intothe Atlantic, but the temperatures it left behind were still on themild side for December, he observed.