Prompt

After opening 3 cents above Thursday’s high trade, the newprompt month September moved higher in early trade Friday astechnical buying buoyed the contract near the confluence oftrendline and psychological resistance at $4.00. However, afterfailing to push through that level, traders were content to takeprofits ahead of the weekend. The July contract finished with justa 0.2-cent gain for the session at $3.845.

Taking a cue from the July contract, which tumbled in anexpiration-day sell-off, August began its tenure as prompt month byslipping lower yesterday morning as traders continued to look pasta bullish storage situation to focus on bearish short-term demandoutlooks. But just like other moves lower in recent weeks,yesterday’s retracement was short-lived and by 11:15 a.m. (EDT)buyers had promoted the near-month back into positive territory onthe day.

Southern Union has completed its merger with PennsylvaniaEnterprises. “The prompt completion of this merger is a vote ofconfidence by our regulators and shareholders, as well as thefinancial community,” said Southern Union President Peter H.Kelley. PEI shareholders will receive 1.59 shares of Southern Unioncommon stock and $3 in cash for each share of PEI common stock.Southern Union also announced a stock repurchase program not toexceed $40 million. It is issuing 17 million shares of common stockand is paying $32 million in cash in connection with thistransaction. In addition, on Oct. 5 Southern Union announced amerger agreement with Fall River Gas, a gas distributor serving48,000 customers in southeastern Massachusetts. The transaction,valued at $75 million.

After apparently teasing volatility-loving traders Monday,natural gas futures have returned to the somewhat unspectaculartrading which marred the month of February by chopping lazilysideways for the past two days. Only subtle differences-Tuesday’slate decline vs. Wednesday’s late uptick-were seen asdistinguishing features in an otherwise featureless market. TheApril contract saw the largest gains, notching a 2.7-cent gain tofinish at $1.723 in light to moderate trading Wednesday.

Changes were in the air last Wednesday at the New YorkMercantile Exchange. Traders were greeted with a new promptmonth-January, a stronger December cash market, and even a freshrally-thanks to a short-covering Tuesday. Just about the only thingthat hadn’t changed were the bearish fundamental factors-storageand weather-prevalent in the market. But once again thosefundamentals were king Wednesday, and the selling pushed theJanuary contract down 7.9 cents to $2.196 at the closing bell.

The November contract debuted as the prompt month yesterday byposting modest gains during a quiet trading session that saw nofresh news. November opened lower and quickly tested Monday’s $2.27low, but light commercial buying helped drive the market up 4.5cents to settle at 2.347 for the day. Estimated volume was a modest33,428.

One of the Gas Industry Standard Board’s (GISB) goals in thecoming year will be to drum up participation in the standardsorganization among local distribution companies, while 33 of GISB’s157 members are LDCs – making the industry segment the third mostheavily represented, behind pipelines and service providers – LDCinput into standards development could be greater, conceded GISBExecutive Director Rae McQuade.

Atlantic Richfield Co. (ARCO) told employees it will lay offworkers and cut its operating budget in anticipation of continuedlow oil prices. No details on the number of job cuts or where theywould be made were available. A company spokesman told NGI ARCOshould have a plan in place by mid to late October. ARCO has about20,000 employees, all but about 3,500 of them in the United States.

It has been a long time since bullish traders have had much tosmile about in the natural gas market. Both fundamentals andtechnicals have exerted their influence on the market for most ofthe summer, and, in doing so, have forced natural gas prices todepths not witnessed since 1995. However, Monday morning traderswere greeted with two potentially bullish developments — onetechnical in nature and the other fundamental — that prompted ashort-covering rally enabling the market to eat away at some oflast week’s price loses. The October contract led the way,advancing 8.8 cents to settle at $1.752 yesterday.