Philosophy

Some traders have said they adhere to a simple philosophy: when everyone is going in one direction, you should head the other way. That seemed somewhat applicable in the cash market Wednesday. With consensus opinion firmly established that prices had little to no chance of rallying anytime soon, what does the market do? It sees prices rise, often fairly strongly, at a solid majority of points.

Williams maintains a “more conservative” trading philosophy than many of its peers, Chairman Keith E. Bailey told analysts Monday, saying short term volatility in spark spreads and commodity prices have had much less impact on results since the company tends toward longer, structured transactions and is “much more fully hedged” than most.

Both large and small exploration and production companies shoulduse the same philosophy to create value for their shareholders:manage the present to enable the future, advised Conoco Inc.Executive Vice President Robert McKee III at Arthur Andersen’sEnergy Symposium in Houston yesterday.