Prices

Atlanta’s natural gas utility holding company, AGL ResourcesInc., whose stock prices have fallen nearly 14% in the past year,said last week that cost cutting and more customers will pushthird-quarter profits ahead of analysts’ estimates. AGL wasexpected to earn 21 cents a share in the three months ending lastFriday (June 30), the average estimate of several analysts polledby First Call/Thomson Financial.

Atlanta’s natural gas utility holding company, AGL ResourcesInc., whose stock prices have fallen nearly 14% in the past year,said yesterday that cost cutting and more customers will pushthird-quarter profits ahead of analysts’ estimates. AGL wasexpected to earn 21 cents a share in the three months ending today,the average estimate of several analysts polled by FirstCall/Thomson Financial.

Cash prices were already headed downward Monday in the greatmajority of cases, but that’s nothing like the beating they’reexpected to take today after futures went into a free-fall, losingmore than 40 cents in the July contract.

After three consecutive days of increasing prices, the next fivenatural gas futures contract months on the New York MercantileExchange each dumped 5-6 cents yesterday, showing a little weaknessand slightly less volatility than average over the past coupleweeks. The downticks illustrate the continued uncertainty regardingthe long-term direction of the market.

Judging from the huge dip in futures prices last Wednesday, themarket apparently didn’t get wind of a new, more bullish hurricaneseason forecast by renowned hurricane prognosticator Dr. WilliamGray and his team of soothsayers at Colorado State University.

Judging from the huge dip in futures prices yesterday, themarket apparently didn’t get wind of a new, more bullish hurricaneseason forecast by renowned hurricane prognosticator Dr. WilliamGray and his team of soothsayers at Colorado State University.

Cash prices gave their best efforts Tuesday at imitating theprevious day’s screen rise of slightly over 35 cents, and quite afew points came close. But when the initially firmer July futurescontract made an abrupt about-face at mid-morning Tuesday andheaded south to eventually wind up the day more than a dime lower,cash numbers dutifully followed the screen’s lead once again inlate trading.

Cash prices finally experienced some retrenchment Thursdayfollowing an awe-inspiring series of growth spurts during May, buta near-total collapse of the screen along with the usual dropoff inweekend demand is expected to result in significantly greaterdeclines today.

Despite moderating temperatures and tumbling electric prices,natural gas futures continued to climb yesterday, punching throughstubborn resistance amid new speculative length and renewedconcerns that storage inventories are too low. Easily outpacing itsprior life-of-contract high at $3.24, the June contract rallied13.4 cents higher to finish at $3.317. In doing so, futures reachedtheir highest mark by a spot contract since November 1997.