Hypervolatility

While the relatively mild summer weather seen thus far in the United States and the major increases in gas storage injections have combined to help tamp down gas prices somewhat, a FERC staff member on Wednesday said he expects market volatility to remain high.

The hypervolatility in swing deals done Friday for Nov. 1-2 madeit difficult to gauge where the cash market was moving Monday. Butthe overall mix of flat to about a dime or so up or down (includingjust about all points in between) amounted to a general wash thattilted a little bit to the negative side, sources said. Besides,they added, it was generally a quiet day for most traders as theytook stock of bidweek and prospects for the upcoming days.