Wall Street

Online Stock Market Trading If the law of supply and demand really drives commodity prices, then something seems amiss in the natural gas market.

While Wall Street's concern over foreign oil prices loom on the edge of winter's demands for heating oil, domestic companies are profiting.

Stock Investing Course Natural gas futures are trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at prices roughly 50 percent higher than they were a year ago, even though government data show that demand has declined and pre-winter storage levels are well above historical norms. This is in stark contrast with the oil market, where prices are higher amid global output limitations and unexpectedly strong consumption.

The start of a new week on Wall Street has investors wondering if the stock market is indeed recovering after rallying in response to the Federal Reserve's intervention on Friday, day reprieve from weeks of losses. Food Prices Fuel China Inflation Fears Grocery shopping has become a painful experience for Zhang Xueyi. Meat prices have risen 50 percent in the past year, and eggs and other products are not far behind, old railway technician's family to spend a third of its $400 monthly income on food.

Stock Market Game The rise in natural gas prices has coincided with a big increase in trading by hedge funds and other speculators. And in a letter being sent today to lawmakers, an organization representing industrial users of gas says the market has become vulnerable to manipulation.

Our fragrant and beautiful English Lavender Heart Wreath welcomes the summer in a unique way. $49.95 Wild Red Rose Wreath Bring summer to your home with this bright and cheery Wild Red Rose Wreath. Floral Wreath This colorful wreath will brighten Mom's wall long after Mother's Day. $39.95 Summer Rose Wreath

Stock Investing Game Whatever the cause, homeowners who rely on natural gas are feeling the pinch: The Energy Department predicts they will spend on average $1,000 this winter on heating bills, a 15 percent increase.

ScottishPower has warned UK householders to expect a big rise in fuel bills, although the company is not yet clear when the rises will come into effect.

Journal Prime Rate Street Wall So are manufacturers of chemicals, plastics and resins, for whom natural gas is both a raw material and an energy source. They are complaining to Congress about their fuel costs after a steep rise in prices in September and October.

The price rise will be effective from 1st April 2006 for all customers except those with the "Gas Guardian" plan. npower's online plan is also not affected by the price rise. The price rise follows a recent spate of price rises including EDF Energy, British Gas, ScottishPower and Powergen, whose prices rise in March. uSwitch.com has updated the prices for npower plans in our gas and electricity comparison and switching service.

Stock Market News The jump in natural gas prices has not received as much media attention as the oil-price run-up, but consumer advocates and industry groups say it is more troubling. Most natural gas pumped to American factories and homes is produced domestically and should not be as vulnerable to the geopolitical turmoil that has roiled oil markets.

Stock Investing Basics "The natural gas market price is no longer being set by consumers' demands for the physical supply of gas," Paul Cicio, the executive director of the Industrial Energy Consumers of America, said in a letter to be sent today to members of Congress. "Instead of the market serving the greater public good, it serves the investment interests of ever-growing unregulated billion-dollar hedge funds that are completely disconnected from the consumer and manufacturing market."

Stock Investing Software Cicio's organization represents companies including Dow Chemical Co., Bayer Corp., and BASF Corp. He said Nymex needs to place tighter controls on intraday volatility, reduce the number of natural gas contracts any single trading entity can own and give more enforcement responsibilities to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Stock Market Trading Relaxed federal oversight has helped turn Nymex into an environment that is too friendly to speculators and "susceptible to manipulation," Cicio said.

Stock Investing For Dummy Nymex Holdings Inc. is the parent of the world's largest energy futures exchange, whose members include brokerages such as ABN Amro Inc., trading units of energy producers such as El Paso Merchant Energy and investments banks such as Goldman Sachs & Co. The exchange's new president, James E. Newsome, is the former chairman of the commodities panel.

Stock Market Crash Nymex Holdings earned $11.6 million in the first half of the year on revenues of $109.7 million. But judging by the $2 million paid in the most recent sale of a seat on the exchange in October, its members' earnings potential is even higher.

Stock Investing Tip Average daily trading volume for natural gas futures has surged 16-fold over the past 10 years, Nymex data show. By comparison, oil futures trading volume has doubled over the same period.

Stock Market Chart At the same time, commercial traders - utilities and industrial consumers who use futures markets to hedge against price movements in the spot market - are not as dominant in the market as they once were. The proportion of non-commercial traders such as hedge funds and individual speculators fluctuated at the Nymex in the mid to late 1990s, but has trended steadily higher since 2001, CFTC data show.

Online Stock Investing For example, in November 2001 non-commercial traders accounted for about 10 percent of big holders of multiple gas contracts. They now account for nearly 40 percent.

Stock Market Crash Of Critics say the proliferation of non-commercial trading is a major reason why natural gas prices have become so volatile.

Stock Investing For Beginner Nachamah Jacobovits, a Nymex spokeswoman, said it's the reverse: Increased volatility is luring more traders to the market, including both speculators and commercial entities seeking to offset their risk in the spot market. "People who don't hedge get hurt," Jacobovits said.

Finance Journal Personal "There's no question that natural gas is a very volatile market," Jacobovits said, but "we have a great deal of resources devoted to monitoring it."

Stock Market Report Indeed, the CFTC, in coordination with Nymex, completed in August a seven-month investigation into surging natural gas prices last winter and concluded there was no evidence that markets were manipulated.

Finance Investing Stock Market The agency said prices rose sharply - above $7 per 1,000 cubic feet in December 2003 - because of colder-than-expected weather in the Northeast and predictions made prior to the home-heating season that U.S. inventories of natural gas would be tight.

Wall Street Journal Com Although some energy analysts argue there is a complicated logic underpinning today's soaring natural gas prices, others point to market speculation, pure and simple.

Stock Market Investing Advice By Brad Foss
Associated Press - 11/17/2004

Topic: Petroleum Industry

[ Comment, Edit or Article Submission ]