Powerisk Glossary

Bear Market

During the 19th Century in America a market was set up to trade bear skins. Some of the traders forward sold positions, in fact they sold bear skins which they did not own. This is sometimes referred to as short selling, and if the market is on a donward spiral then short selling is smart as you are selling at a higher price to the one at outcome of delivery. The bear skin jobbers when in full flow would depress a market and hence the reason why a bear market is seen as a decline in prices.


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22 January 2010


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09 April 2009


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G20 has a lot to answer  

03 April 2009


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Recent oil price rises will not last  

25 March 2009


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Fuel Markets Drive Prices  

12 February 2009


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Sterling in for rough ride  

22 January 2009


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A Christmas Wind Down in the Power Market  

19 December 2008


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A Rare Bull Appearance  

09 December 2008


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Extended Shutdowns will impact Industrial Demand.  

19 November 2008


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A Bearish Gas Market  

07 November 2008


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Week 44 helps Drive November Down  

16 October 2008


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Oil Prices drive the Gas Curve Down.  

07 October 2008


Following significant falls in the oil market, gas prices followed helped by the Bearish sentiment along the curve.  read more...

Currency moves beginning to effect market.  

14 August 2008


Currency moves has meant that buying $ priced oil and coal will be costing the UK more than in previous months.  read more...

Oil prices look set to breach $112  

12 August 2008


Oil falls are causing traders to look to assess if oil will fall below the $100, level.  read more...

Market falls on oil.  

05 June 2008


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Dollar surges and causes commodities to fall.  

04 June 2008


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Has oil reached a bubble?  

30 May 2008


The US holds the key to any manifest change in price.  read more...

Curve tracks oil downturn  

29 May 2008


Curve falls on stability and oil. Gordon Brown strengthens the governments resolve on any new nuclear decisions.  read more...

Oil prices fall again.  

07 February 2008


Oil falls again as Iraq looks set to increase production as Opec threaten to cut theirs.  read more...

Prompt pulls 09 down.  

01 February 2008


The prompt market continues to influence the back end of the curve.  read more...

Oil bets show that the bulls are turning bearish  

29 January 2008


Oil prices set to slide as players turn bearish on economic demands.  read more...

Market falls on the back of fundamentals  

25 January 2008


Market slips on fundamentals which show growing supplies as demand fall on mild weather.  read more...

Prices could retreat on fundamentals  

18 January 2008


Electricity prices could start to fall as players turn to the fundamentals in oil and gas.  read more...

Traders seem to balance badly  

21 December 2007


Traders keen to see Christmas early as they continue to withdraw from Rough.  read more...

German demand down 5%  

20 December 2007


German demand drop so significant that if Europe has followed suit then the need for nuclear and new build could be put on hold.  read more...

Barking to expand  

19 December 2007


Barking ready to expand but at what potential future cost.  read more...

5 Year extension for Nukes  

11 December 2007


Nukes life extended could it happen again.  read more...

Oil falls below $90 brl  

30 November 2007


Oil prices head south as traders take profits and re-assess the fundamentals.  read more...

Prompt plunge  

27 November 2007


Prompt prices fall on increasing supply and milder weather  read more...

Striking French cause supply issues  

14 November 2007


French strikes cause fear of outages on both sides of the channel.  read more...

Emissions prices fall against the run of play  

19 October 2007


Emissions fall is possibly pre-cursor for a further fall in the market  read more...

Oil slides could start the sell off  

10 October 2007


Markets see oil fall off below $80 but when this happened last week is was not sustained. Auctioning of EUA's being looked at by the government.  read more...

Market a little rudderless  

04 October 2007


Market falls possibly imminent.  read more...

Markets starts to slide  

03 October 2007


Market sees slight sell but it could be a dead cat bounce.  read more...

Summary of the week.  

28 September 2007


The market continues to baffle as players gear up for the winter  read more...

Market fluctuates  

14 September 2007


Market continues to get volatile with players taking a range of differing views.  read more...

Interconnector auction down 30%  

11 September 2007


Interconnector prices are lower for the year.  read more...

Rough Outage  

06 September 2007


Rough outage encourges a bit of gaming.  read more...

ITL to go live before 2008  

30 August 2007


Carbon market expected to fall as ITL looks set to open before the start of Phase II  read more...

Will the range break  

23 August 2007


Markets start to look asthough they may break the range but what event will spur the final push through the lows.  read more...

Prices continue to tend to the bottom of the range  

10 August 2007


Markets steady as the situation next week looks to see players try another sustained push down to new levels.  read more...

Hedge funds move out of oil  

08 August 2007


Oil slides aggressively on the back of hedge fund sellers. The question on traders lips is when will this start to feed into the power market.  read more...

Prices slide  

17 July 2007


The gas market has been sold off a little on the back of oil price falls today.  read more...

Carbon prices surprise.  

12 July 2007


Carbon prices start to fall is this a permanent fall or a temporary blip.  read more...

Market falls on coal gas and carbon  

26 June 2007


Normal trading conditions continue in the mild mannered Summer.  read more...

Price Slide  

04 June 2007


Pressure from forward sellers could see the buyers run to the hills.  read more...

Backwardation and contango  

20 April 2007


The curve is changing shape this could be a short term thing as players tend to forget the back of the curve as it is less liquid but more often than not it is a fundamental shift in the market next week will tell.  read more...

Market falls continue  

19 April 2007


The market is continuing to edge downwards and this is encouraging that worries associated with exceptionally hot Summers are being downplayed. It is interesting to note whether demand rises significantly next week when colder weather is predicted.  read more...

Gas market adds to bearish pressure  

11 April 2007


The market continues to fall on mild weather plentiful supply and a vernal feeling of euphoria.  read more...

Market bears return  

03 April 2007


Falls across most of the market as players attempt to react to new emissions data and see how it translates for next year.  read more...

Fundamentals will never be reached.  

27 March 2007


Sometimes there are reasons as to why markets start trading below fundamental lows but are there clear signs.  read more...

The market quiet  

02 February 2007


The market is now stating that it is close to the bottom, this generally means that there is further to go.  read more...

Where is the bottom?  

29 January 2007


The bears are really questioning if the bulls will ever return. The market is due a little correction from the selling spree but how long will it last.  read more...

Peak demand low for one of the coldest weeks in Winter  

25 January 2007


The market is responding to low demand plentiful supply with further falls. Summer 07 has not breached £25 but there is every chance it could.  read more...

Windy day sees lower prices  

19 January 2007


The market is looking for fundamental signs as to what may happen in the future. Winter 07 might look overpriced when the average day ahead price for January is likely to turn out at sub £30.  read more...

Traders claim we are at the bottom  

15 January 2007


The market has suggested that new lows have been reached but traders are often crying wolf and the market is not so low that the players are really hurting.  read more...

Bull sightings getting rarer.  

08 January 2007


The markets continue to fall and this suggests that levels may well have further to fall.  read more...

2007 to be hottest on record  

04 January 2007


The market continues to jockey for position with bears being cagey despite significant falls in emissions.  read more...

Day ahead drives curve to new lows  

03 January 2007


The market is yet to experience a return to full demand and so the day ahead has remained low, this is effecting the curve but how long will it last.  read more...

New Year points to falling market  

02 January 2007


The market conitnues to fall with new lows being set on the last trading day of the year but the future suggests that the bears wll be looking at the fundamental lows when they will start to metamorphise into bulls.  read more...

Market continues to fall  

12 December 2006


The market is responding to fundamentals, which are that if it is raining it is not too cold, and so demand is quite steady. Storage is full.  read more...

Markets, Scots and Transmission  

05 December 2006


Markets continue their bearish drive, but players are beginning to look to January and February for guidance. A weather annoucement today may also have further bearish pressure on the market.  read more...

Market collapses on plentiful gas.  

04 December 2006


The market continues to freefall as players look at the fundmentals the colder it gets the more gas seems to be coming into the market and the more likley that system can cope.  read more...

The fall continues  

01 December 2006


The market is falling aggressively as players are determined to sell on low prompt prices.  read more...

Summer and Winter get hit by the prompt  

28 November 2006


The market continues to set new lows and players are comfortable to trade sporadically as prices become better.  read more...

British Energy Announce results  

17 November 2006


The market is always slow on a Friday but most will be concentrating on the British Energy annoucement and US gas stocks which have pushed oil prices down significantly.  read more...

Bearish Sentiment continues  

13 November 2006


Bearish news continues to filter into the market as oil emissions and gas all fall. Maybe power might follow in the next couple of days.  read more...

Oil market pushes power  

10 November 2006


Oil market rises have effected power prices but some of these gains may be offset by the emissions falls next week, could see further bearish pressure.  read more...

The market overcomes fears  

07 November 2006


Market remains buoyant but tending to head South still.  read more...

Bears are back but will it last?  

01 November 2006


The market does to appear to be falling again and again, the combination of falling oil and emissions prices is having a further bearish effect on gas and power. Eventually, Winter demand will kick in and when it does we can expect a small turn upwards to reflect the change in demand and supply.  read more...

Battering seen in markets  

25 October 2006


Some might argue that the Christmas sales have come early as all markets slid on fundamental data which shows that in mild weather and with plenty of plant available prices tend to fall.  read more...

Where have all the bulls gone  

13 October 2006


The market looks stagnant but volatility has risen as it lurches from new lows to £1-£3 higher in two days. This is more volatile than a steady fall.  read more...

Risk management dichotomy  

03 October 2006


Risk managers can rest easy when they are short and the market is falling but they will be aware that we are in territory and that correlations and spreads have started to look very different from last year.  read more...

Dead Cat Bounce  

29 September 2006


Oil price rise on Opec fears but is it a short lived tradery rumour.... probably because it fits the pyschological and technical processes of all markets.  read more...

Hedge Funds dominate the market  

22 September 2006


The market has seen the effects of hedge funds, big players who can move markets when reversing positions, they can also push them too far and the skill in any trader is moving the market but not doing it so unsubtley that the market front runs you. Hedge funds struggle with this due to the volume of trades required to reverse the position.  read more...

Bottom of the market  

18 September 2006


The bear run is continuing and this year it is based on fundamentals rather than speculation which makes it more sustained and more longer.  read more...

Bears continue the run  

31 August 2006


Oil and gas prices have fallen and plant margin remains plentiful as a result any bullish activity is short lived.  read more...

Oil and Gas curves continue to fall  

29 August 2006


Prices continue to fall and it is looking unlikely that they will continue to rise in the near term.  read more...

The bearish part of the year  

25 August 2006


This part of the year tends to see a fall in price can it last for more than three weeks.  read more...

Gas in the middle of Political Debate  

24 August 2006


Gas is plentiful and although a few are arguing that it could be tight most are realising that lessons have been learnt from last year.  read more...

Q1 07 dangerously close to breaking £60  

15 August 2006


The bears are back and the length seen as a necessity by trading houses at the begininng of the year is slowly making its way back into the market. Perhaps the hedge for today is to short British Energy shares.  read more...

Bearish Sentiment changes fuel fundamentals  

14 August 2006


The market is reatcing well to the recent oil price rises with a view that margins are helathy enough as it is and that trading can be a way of moving the market rather than just looking at raw fundamental demand and supply.  read more...

Cheaper than a long time  

09 August 2006


The market looks reasonably priced and this is where opportunities could present themselves, but it looks like there are further falls to come.  read more...

Winter 06 Technical Levels breached  

01 August 2006


Winter 06 falls below the technical levels and could be in for further falls if things continue the way they are going with gas prices on the march down.  read more...

Coolness descends on prices  

31 July 2006


Prices fall on cool weather and players are keen to try and capitalise on this fall and so it will be interesting to see whether prices stay here for long.  read more...

Winter 06- The technicals  

25 July 2006


Winter 06 dropping closer and closer to the £60 level and there is a definitely feeling that this could lead to a new world where Winter 06 has a big number starting with a 5 rather than a 6.  read more...

Winter 06 slides.  

24 July 2006


Winter 06 reacting maturely to the prompt fears and beginning to move South as gas producers start to off-load some of their length.  read more...

Gas prices inch down.  

12 July 2006


Gas is still cagey but the long term suggests that come Winter 07 there will be alot of gas in the system and the prices, should fall as a result.  read more...

Bears test market  

27 June 2006


Technicals look to be holding the Winter 06 baseload contract above £60 but players must be aware that technicals are working because the world cup has quitened down some the incumbent players and as long as the market jobs around no one will worry.  read more...

The bears are back  

07 June 2006


The market has slipped on fundamentals which suggest that the slide could be here for some time, but there are still events in the pipeline which could force some things North.  read more...

Could the fall happen this week.  

19 May 2006


Markets listless not sure which direction to go, with the continentals showing a slight bearish move, and the UK a slight bullish move. Oil and Gas are up marginally, but power and emissions have ticked down a smidge.  read more...

Emissions market breaks all the rules.  

16 May 2006


Emissions markets defy logic, as more bearish news comes to the fore the buyers continue to force the price up to an intraday high of €21.  read more...

The market fall starts early  

12 May 2006


The market has fallen in the prompt this morning with increasing gas in the system and the recent bubble tendency in commodities has seen some take profit.  read more...

How far can emissions go?  

03 May 2006


The emissions market has been bashed will it spring back up to previous levels. It is unlikely but possible Powerisk looks at it in detail.  read more...

Emissions Collapse  

27 April 2006


Emissions markets in freefall as more leaked annoucements on compliance suggest that the market has been hoodwinked into overpaying for some time.  read more...

A market of contradictions.  

26 April 2006


Emissions the play of the day as a €3 fall or 10% has caused the bears to re-look at the backend of the curve and see whether to take profits. In Europe this has happened but in the Uk the Rough issue is clouding decisions.  read more...


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