Just to show how wobbly the natural-gas market is: prices soared 8% right after a government report showed a smaller-than-expected build of gas inventories, and gave up all the gains in the next 30 minutes.
Huge swings are not rare for gas traders. Natural-gas futures dropped to the lowest level in more than seven years in early September, weighed down by concerns over a supply glut and reduced consumption by residential and industrial users. Then market sentiment suddenly turned on Sept. 3, after prices dipped below $2.50 per million British thermal units, and waves of buying and short covering pushed prices up by 50% since then....MORE
And:
Top independent natural-gas producers are publicly making the case to Congress that the federal government should work to boost natural gas consumption. If successful, the effort could shore up the market fundamentals of the fuel, which has seen prices surge recently despite lackluster demand and burgeoning supplies....MOREIn another part of the Dow Jones Empire, Environmental Capital had earlier written their similar post (and a Beatles ref.):
Natural Gas Industry: All We Need Is Love (From Washington)
You might think, since people across the political spectrum keep singing the praises of natural gas, that the natural-gas industry would be feeling pretty good about its prospects these days....Continuing the liebe-und-musikalisch-motifs, MB's later post is:
High-Frequency Traders: Looking for LoveOkay that's enough Dow Jones. This stuff can be a wilderness of mirrors as exemplified by the October '07 post, "What is Going on With the Wall Street Journal and Madonna (off-topic)":
This morning, in a post at the WSJ's MarketBeat blog we saw "Reading: On Hong Kong and Madonna". Okay, possibly industry shaking development. Unaware that we may have had a pointer to a cult at the heart of the DJ & Co. blog empire, we go blithely about our business.
Then this is brought to our attention, at the WSJ's Deal Journal "Live Nation’s Breathless Madonna Deal". Hmmm.
At 1:30 p.m. EDT the extent of the Madonna madness begins to crystalize with a third post, "Madonna Deal: Like a Prayer?"
Fearing that I was projecting some suppressed Kabbalistic fetish of my own, I checked the Energy Roundup. Praise be to YHWH. It's not me. Two posts from the LiveEarth era, "Gore-a-Palooza" and "...Big Concerts, Small Impact?" turn up with Madonna refs.
What's going on?
A Google search reveals this cryptic clue at the Huffington Post:
...O.J. Simpson briefly steps on the stage -- only to be abruptly yanked off again by Rupert Murdoch. Madonna and Barbra Streisand come out and do a brief duet rendition of their new song, "George W. Bush is the Anti-Christ" -- and then the stage falls mercifully silent.
Who would know the secret?
