Generally

The cash market got little support from the return of industrial load following the weekend. Instead, with a much weaker screen in Nymex’s abbreviated session Monday, and with few areas experiencing bullish weather, most points softened by up to a dime or so.

Prices were generally a bit higher Wednesday as traders with heavy hearts struggled to resume business as close as possible to normal. There was a decided lack of consistency as production-area numbers ranged from mildly softer to about a dime higher, and market-area deliveries were similarly varied.

Prices registered across-the-board upticks that generally ranged from about a nickel to 15 cents Wednesday as cash traders had quite a lot on their plates to digest: the sudden resignation late Tuesday of Jeffrey Skilling as Enron’s president and CEO; the subsequent pounding Wednesday taken by stock prices for Enron and other large energy companies; the formation of Tropical Depression Four in the Atlantic; and the moderate futures strength generated during the morning by news of the tropical activity.

The market eked out small increases Tuesday that generally were a nickel or less. A screen uptick of nearly a dime provided some upward momentum, sources said, but cash traders more likely were anticipating what is expected to be the smallest AGA storage injection report in many weeks.

While politicians were generally endorsing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s westwide market mitigation order, posted late Tuesday evening and effective at midnight that night, those in the trenches spent Wednesday parsing the 60-page order (EL00-95-031), figuring out implementation and strategies.

Weekend prices were soft as expected, but probably fell less than many traders were anticipating. Except for sizeable losses of 20-30 cents or more in the Rockies/San Juan and at PG&E-related points, nearly all of Friday’s declines were 15 cents or less, and a majority of those were around a nickel.

Not surprisingly, the cash market was still falling going into the weekend. Generally Friday’s losses were mild at a dime or less, though, and few points fell much more than a dime other than San Juan Basin, Malin and the California border into PG&E.

Generally the cash market failed to find any support from eitherAGA’s big storage withdrawal report Wednesday afternoon or thescreen’s strong push upwards Thursday. With the exception ofupticks at a few scattered points, cash numbers ranged from flat todown nearly a dollar at Transco Zone 6 (NYC). Most of the declineswere between about a nickel and 30 cents.

Prices continued to soar Tuesday but generally by smalleramounts than on Monday in the Gulf Coast, Midcontinent/Midwest,Appalachia and Southwest/Rockies. However, bigger gains at thefrigid Northeast citygates allowed them to join California and thePacific Northwest in measuring average pricing in four digits.