futures

American Electric Power Co. (AEP) on Tuesday requested another week to respond to charges by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) that it intentionally reported bogus natural gas trading information to industry publications. AEP’s deadline to respond was Tuesday (Jan. 6).

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Wednesday issued a joint safe harbor statement to “make absolutely clear” that neither “has or will bring false-reporting cases against energy market participants where the false report is inadvertent or based solely on human error.

With January natural gas futures prices up $1.412 in just five days of trading as the near-month contract soared to $6.337 on Thursday, Lehman Brothers analysts quickly stowed their bear claws and slapped on a set of bull’s horns. Analyst Thomas Driscoll questioned the causes of the run-up in prices but wasn’t hesitant to raise his gas price forecast by 75 cents to $4.50/MMBtu next year. He also tacked on 50 cents to his forecast for 2005, raising it to $4.25 from $3.75.

With January natural gas futures prices up $1.412 in just five days of trading as the near-month contract soared to $6.337 on Thursday, Lehman Brothers analysts quickly stowed their bear claws and slapped on a set of bull’s horns. Analyst Thomas Driscoll questioned the causes of the run-up in prices but wasn’t hesitant to raise his gas price forecast by 75 cents to $4.50/MMBtu next year. He also tacked on 50 cents to his forecast for 2005, raising it to $4.25 from $3.75.

Bullied by a surprisingly strong blast of winter weather, the natural gas futures market turned abruptly higher Monday as waves of fund and local short covering entered the trading pit. A stronger open set the tone and by 12:30 p.m. EST the January contract had carved out a new six-week continuation-chart high at $5.38.

December natural gas futures opened lower Tuesday, immediately probing the downside, but rebounded after failing to test the overnight Access low at $4.585. It bounced up to a high of $4.790 at 11 a.m. EST before relaxing and then trading sideways the rest of the day. The near-month contract managed a 2.2-cent daily gain, ending the session at $4.727. The January contract slipped 0.6 cents to $4.977, February added 0.4 cents to close at $4.982, and March slid 0.1 cents to $4.887.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have only a “limited role” in cushioning the blow of high natural gas prices that have led to the shutdown of half of the domestic nitrogen fertilizer industry, sending fertilizer producers overseas and U.S. farmers into the arms of lower priced imports, according to a new General Accounting Office (GAO) report.

In what several traders noted was a quiet session as far as Thursdays go, natural gas futures chopped sideways yesterday as storage-related selling and weather-related buying were evenly matched.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have only a “limited role” in cushioning the blow of high natural gas prices that have led to the shutdown of half of the domestic nitrogen fertilizer industry, sending fertilizer producers overseas and U.S. farmers into the arms of lower priced imports, according to a new General Accounting Office (GAO) report.