Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Three Amigos Stock Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JoeinIowa who wrote (22301)	11/21/2000 5:02:10 PM
From: JoeinIowa	Respond to of 29382

I see CHK tracking right along with the price of NG. I am starting to worry about the effect of NG prices over $8 with the major retail season starting Thursday? Could be a real down year. Gas News Tue, 21 Nov 2000, 4:10pm EST 11/21 14:03 Natural Gas Rises to Record, Cold Weather Seen Boosting Demand By Mark Shenk New York, Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Natural gas rose more than 4 percent, reaching a record for the second straight session, as an early cold spell in the U.S. boosted demand for the heating fuel at a time when supplies are low. Traders were buying contracts because the next weekly report on inventories from the American Gas Association is due for release tomorrow at 2 p.m. New York time, after futures trading closes early for a four-day Thanksgiving holiday. The timing means traders won't be able to take the latest inventory levels into account before the weekend. ``No one wants get caught short in this market right now,'' said David Chang, managing director of energy trading at Bank of America in New York. ``This wild market has people on edge.'' Natural gas for December delivery rose as much as 26.1 cents, or 4.2 percent, to $6.51 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest price in 10 years of trading. Prices have risen 43 percent this month and have almost tripled from a year ago. ``It's probable that we will see natural gas at $7.50 or $8 if there are further cold spells,'' Chang said. ``This weather- related move has got us into uncharted territory.'' While gas prices rose, prices for heating oil were little changed, as traders were confident they could take positions in London markets during the Thanksgiving holiday, if necessary. London's International Petroleum Exchange has contracts in Brent crude oil, a grade that's deliverable against the New York crude oil futures contract, and gasoil, the European term for heating oil. ``With crude oil and products, you can offset some of your risk because there is trading in London on Thursday and Friday,'' said Sam Weaver, a gas trader at GSC Energy Corp. in Atlanta. ``With natural gas that's not an option.'' California Demand Prices also rose because a drop in electricity production in California, caused by the unexpected shutdown of a nuclear power plant, is boosting demand for electricity from gas-fired plants, traders said. Almost all of California's excess power-production capacity, which kicks in at times of peak demand, comes from power plants that use natural gas, said Ross Miller, senior electricity planner with the Sacramento-based California Energy Institute, a government agency. Natural gas prices of $16 to $18 per million Btu ``in the West are driving the gas market right now,'' Weaver said. ``There are concerns about capacity constraints in California.'' Temperatures throughout the Midwest and Northeast, the two biggest home-heating markets, will be below normal through Friday, according to Weather Services Corp. of Lexington, Massachusetts. U.S. inventories of natural gas during the week ended Nov. 10 fell for the first time since April, the AGA said last Wednesday. Supplies were 9.1 percent lower than a year earlier, when the weather was warmer. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © Copyright 2000, Bloomberg L.P. All Rights Reserved.