Points

The pummeling of oil and natural gas producer stocks, which began last week, continued Monday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 634 points on the first day of trading after Standard & Poor’s (S&P) late Friday downgraded the United States credit rating from “AAA” to “AA+.”

The pummeling of oil and natural gas producer stocks, which began last week, continued Monday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 634 points on the first day of trading after Standard & Poor’s (S&P) late Friday downgraded the United States credit rating from “AAA” to “AA+.”

Prices continued to drop by generally small amounts at nearly all points Thursday despite cooling load remaining heavy in some areas. A few cooling trends and the previous day’s downturn of 6.5 cents by prompt-month futures were primary components of the cash market softness.

Pennsylvania lost nearly $200 million in state revenue by not imposing a tax on natural gas in October 2009, according a statewide think tank.

Prices continued to fall at a large majority of points Friday despite a few slight reversals of cooling trends. The overall diminution of air conditioning load from earlier in the week was still largely in place, and it was abetted by the previous day’s 8.4-cent decline by August futures following a bearish storage report and the usual drop of industrial load during a weekend in pushing cash numbers lower.

The cash market saw further drops at all points except one Friday. There was little change in overall weather-based load for the weekend as small temperature gains in some sections were largely balanced by slight cooling trends, while some areas were seeing little change in their forecasts.

Tuesday’s smaller price gains than those a day earlier proved indicative of the market direction, as most points saw small losses Wednesday. Forecasts of modest retreats in peak temperatures in the South, and to a lesser extent in the Northeast, tended to squelch some of the extra cooling load from earlier in the week, and Tuesday’s 0.1-cent decline by June futures was neutral regarding cash market guidance.

It was not surprising that prices continued to drop at nearly all points Friday. Generally moderate weather almost everywhere, a 10.4-cent dip by June futures a day earlier and the usual weekend loss of industrial load were all bearish influences on Friday’s cash market.

Prices continued to move higher at a majority of points as this week’s overall rebound completed its third day Wednesday. Heating load remains fairly strong as lows from the mid 20s through the low 40s are in the Thursday forecast for Canada and much of the northern two-thirds of the U.S.