Fall

All cash points retreated Wednesday within a range of about anickel to 20 cents, with most declines occupying the middle groundat 8-15 cents. Sources attributed the softening to the screen’sweakness a day earlier, a general dearth of cooling load, anddoubts about production risks from downgraded Tropical Storm Debby.

Unseasonally high natural gas prices have narrowed margins andcaused defaults by unhedged marketer customers, resulting in a$24.4 million second quarter loss for MCN Energy Group’s energymarketing division.

Unseasonally high natural gas prices have narrowed margins andcaused defaults by unhedged marketer customers, resulting in a$24.4 million second quarter loss for MCN Energy Group’s energymarketing division.

The market was beginning to show more signs of volatilityWednesday, although the swings weren’t quite as wide-ranging asmost of those last week. Cash numbers fell by 10-15 cents at nearlyall points but were expected to rebound again today after futurestraders treated AGA’s afternoon storage report as bullish.

Cash prices took a dive again Thursday as expected. Declineswere around 20 cents or greater at nearly all eastern points and inthe Southwest basins but ranged from about a dime to 18 cents inCalifornia and the Rockies.

It is often said that markets will fall twice as fast as theyrise and that was never more true than yesterday in the natural gaspit at Nymex. After climbing steadily over the past week to the$4.555 level Wednesday, the market was flushed lower yesterday amida torrent of profit-taking that in turn, triggered a wave ofsell-stop loss orders. Bargain hunting was seen late to stem theprice erosion, but the damage was already done.

Although the Northeast power grid remained under heavy stressTuesday from an intense heat wave, hourly spot prices for electricitywere backing off from the peaks of $6,000/MWh hit Monday afternoon inthe ISO New England service area (see related story in this issue). Although gasprices continued to advance Tuesday, a large aggregator felt confidentin predicting they will be following power quotes lower today.

Incremental prices for the last day of March, finding little tono support from any direction, did the natural thing: they fell byanywhere from about a nickel to more than a dime. April bidweeknumbers also slid a bit further.

E-commerce services provider Automated Power Exchange Inc. (APX)said its new electronic power trading platform does not fall underthe FERC’s jurisdiction because it uses no price-settingmechanisms. The company challenged FERC over its jurisdiction ofelectronic power trading and said the recent denial of its courtpetition will have little impact on the Santa Clara, CA-basedcompany.