Factor

Although “storm hype” was a popular phrase in market discussionsThursday, the hype factor was beginning to fade in the afternoon asTropical Storm Bret achieved named status, prompting the Mexicangovernment to post coastal storm warnings from Tampico southward.Some strengthening of Bret is likely over the next 24 hours, theNational Hurricane Center said in a 4 p.m. CDT advisory.

In this uncertain world Pittsburgh-based Weatherwise USA isoffering to eliminate one weather-related stress factor-that ofskyrocketing gas heating and cooling bills. The WeatherwiseWeatherProof Bills (sm) program claims to be the first to offer afixed price gas service that eliminates weather- and gasprice-related uncertainty for individual consumers.

The primary factor contributing to energy trading room successis information, which comes before risk management and workplacecultural factors, according to a Saladin survey of energy traders.Traders told Saladin they are using more information and analysisthan they did a year ago. Saladin predicted a year ago thatInternet usage would outpace traders’ predictions, which theinformation provider found to be the case with its latest survey.Also as predicted, there is an increased focus on risk managementand integrated systems. Three-quarters of traders reportedincreased use of the Internet. More than 20% of trading roomsimplemented new risk management systems over the last year, andnearly a third of those surveyed noted advances in sophistication;in implementation of value at risk; and in systems, controls andprocedures.