Where June ended on a bearish note, July opened with a distinctly more bullish feel to it. By the 8th July, the Winter contracts had each gained around £1/MWh with Winter 11 trading at £57.70/MWh, Winter 12 at £59.60/MWh and Winter 13 at £63.45/MWh. A number of factors were in play with the obvious one again being oil, but NBP Gas and coal prices also had their part to play with some traders reporting that the losses seen towards the end of last month had perhaps been over done. An Investment Bank revised upwards its forecast price for Brent Oil contracts and, as is often the case, the oil markets obliged by trading the contract up. Inventory data showing lower than expected oil stock levels as well as rising US retail sales helped to further boost oil contracts. A dampening effect came from re-emergence of Eurozone Debt concerns as Portugal’s credit rating was downgraded.