Mercantile

Choppy trading continued Monday in natural gas trading at the New York Mercantile Exchange as the market rebounded to take back a portion of Friday’s post-holiday and pre-weekend sell-off. At $6.604, the January contract gained 9.4 cents to close just off its $6.645 high for the session.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has settled charges against Alvin Perez, a former New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) compliance department clerk, for disclosing nonpublic information to Nymex floor brokers.

Three weeks after parent company SemGroup LP filed for bankruptcy on $3.2 billion in trading losses in crude deals on the New York Mercantile Exchange and over-the-counter energy derivative markets (see Daily GPI, July 28; July 24), SemGroup Energy Partners LP (SGLP), the only publicly traded subsidiary of SemGroup, announced through a Friday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it is in a spot of bother as well and might have to sell a portion or all of its assets.

September natural gas futures ignored a slightly supportive inventory figure and fell in active trading Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The Energy Information Administration reported injections of 56 Bcf, slightly less than the 60 Bcf expected by a survey conducted by Reuters or the 61 Bcf revealed in a Bloomberg poll.

Spot month natural gas futures settled unchanged, but more deferred contracts retreated in active trading Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Traders cited an interest by funds and managed accounts toward the sell side of the market, and in the longer term analysts suggested that if there were no major production-disrupting hurricanes this season, prices could fall more than another dollar.

The head of the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) told commodity regulators last Tuesday that the no-action letter process has been successful in both the United States and overseas in keeping energy traders in check.

The head of the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) told commodity regulators Tuesday that the no-action letter process has been successful in both the United States and overseas in keeping energy traders in check.

Nymex Holdings Inc., parent company of the New York Mercantile Exchange Inc. (Nymex), this week posted record net income for the first quarter of $56.2 million, an increase of 67% over the $33.6 million that the company posted during 1Q2006. The quarter also revealed that electronic trading continues to gain volume while floor trading gets lighter and lighter.

May natural gas futures continued to advance Monday in active trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Short-term traders noted continued upward momentum carrying over from Friday’s gains, and expect the market to work towards higher price objectives. May finished the day up 14.6 cents to $10.733 and June added 16.9 cents to $10.874. May crude oil gained 79 cents to $117.48/bbl, a record close, on geopolitical developments and a weaker dollar.