Mild

Moderate softening continued in the swing market Thursday for the most part, but points here and there were flat or eked out tiny gains. Except for some lingering chill in the Upper Plains, Rockies and Western Canada, temperatures were converging toward pleasant levels appropriate for mid-spring in nearly all other regions (cooler in the Southwest and warmer in the Northeast). However, a cold front was due to move into the Midwest by the weekend.

Mild weather, lower trading profits and ongoing operational problems at the new Magnolia gas storage project in Southern Louisiana led Entergy Corp. to predict lower than expected first quarter earnings last week.

Mild weather, lower trading profits and ongoing operational problems at the new Magnolia gas storage project in Southern Louisiana led Entergy Corp. to predict lower than expected first quarter earnings on Monday.

Mild weather throughout most of the North American continent continued to work its price-depressing magic Friday, augmented by day-earlier weakness in energy futures and to a lesser extent by the typical slump of industrial load over a weekend.

As one source had expected (see Daily GPI, March 4), the combination of Wednesday’s screen dive and generally mild weather forecasts resulted in spot market weakness Thursday. All points were close to united in recording drops from a dime to about a quarter; most were in the mid to upper teens.

With few bastions of relatively mild temperatures left outside the Florida peninsula, South Texas and the southern reaches of Arizona and California, all points were united Tuesday in realizing moderate to large price gains. Transco Zone 6-New York City notched a new weekly peak of $19 in leading most Northeast citygates in triple-digit spikes as the region hunkered down for yet another nor’easter barrage.

After beginning 2004 with unusually mild weather in the East, the cash market turned around rapidly Monday as the Midwest joined most of the West in experiencing winter storms, with the Northeast poised to take its turn Tuesday. Prices responded to the anticipated cold snap with across-the-board run-ups of about 60 cents or greater.

Prices were mixed but mostly down a few cents Tuesday as traders weighed weather moderation in some areas against colder trends in others. A Calgary-based producer said he had “thought we would pull back further from these price levels, but it seems to be a day of consolidation in the market.”

Considering the expectations of mild weather in the coming week, some traders were undoubtedly surprised when a number of points, mostly in the East, saw flat to a dime higher pricing Friday. However, the overall thrust of a mixed market was downward, with losses running as high as nearly 35 cents in the Northeast but generally a dime or less.