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Business Brokerage If the law of supply and demand really drives commodity prices, then something seems amiss in the natural gas market.

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.

Forex Broker 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.

Nash growth slows Carole Nash has seen a slow down in profit growth for the year ended 31 October 2005. tax profits rose 25% to £2.7m in 2005 up from £2.2m, while a year earlier the broker had reported a 64% hike in profits. Turnover in 2005 increased to £25.3m from £22.6m, while overall premium income, rose to £70.7m. The broker said it had made further appointments to its board to strengthen its position as a top 30 independent broker.

Online Brokerage 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.

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.

Real Estate Broker 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.

The cost of gas has risen by 4.1% (â14) and electricity has increased by 3.8% (â9). This does not affect existing Capped Price Dual Fuel customers. In line with the price rises Powergen have also increased the length of the capped period for new customers from January 2007 to April 2007.

Agency Brokerage Spark 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.

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Business Broker 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.

Brokerage Account "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 Broker 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.

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

Broker Justin Ticket 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.

Real Estate Brokerage 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.

Commodity Broker 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.

Brokerage House 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.

Real Estate Broker Exam 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.

Brokerage Services Critics say the proliferation of non-commercial trading is a major reason why natural gas prices have become so volatile.

Broker Live Ticket 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.

Online Brokerage Firm "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."

Security Broker Dealer 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.

Coldwell Banker Residential 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.

Freight Broker 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.

Freight Brokerage By Brad Foss
Associated Press - 11/17/2004

Topic: Petroleum Industry

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