-->Natural Gas Deficit Worrisome to Texas Oilman

Black Blade: Interesting T. Boone Pickens article. I have also been told the same thing by some industry people. Some storage is in effect depleted leaving only cushion gas. The draw from this week will be above average and next week’s draw could be strong as well. We could close in on 600 bcf within two weeks and still have another couple of weeks worth of draws. We will certainly close heating season at all time record lows, the question is how low? The current outlook as far as drilling activity and E&P budgets suggest that there will be little improvement this summer. We are being set up for a disaster next winter. One analyst I know has said that at current drilling and projected drilling combined with declining output we could easily deplete NatGas storage by the end of December this year (mid-winter). Very profitable potential for many of us holding energy and precious metals, but Yikes!


Waverider (3/8/03; 20:27:06MT - usagold.com msg#: 99152)
Nikkei threatens to drop below 8,000
In 1991, the Nikkei surged 17 percent in a six-week"relief rally" that began with the onset of the U.S.-led campaign in Iraq. The U.S. Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 18 percent. But traders said stocks may fall this time if Washington presses ahead with a war without the support of key allies. With only three weeks to go before year-end book-closings for most Japanese companies, the drop in share prices is bad news for banks, which are saddled with mountains of bad loans, as lower valuations on their stock holdings will erode their capital. Analysts say many banks' capital adequacy ratios -- a key gauge of financial health -- could fall below the eight percent global requirement if the Nikkei approaches 7,500. At Friday's close, combined unrealised stock losses at the top seven banking groups stood at around 5.84 trillion yen ($50 billion), according to Daiwa Institute of Research. Investors are also concerned about the ability of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to deal with any financial crisis.

US consumer credit expanded sharply in January
WASHINGTON, March 7 (Reuters) - U.S. consumers charged more to their credit cards and took out more car loans in January, pushing outstanding credit to its biggest gain in more than a year, the Federal Reserve said on Friday.

The Fed said consumer credit jumped by $13.2 billion in the month, a much larger gain than the $400 million increase Wall Street analysts had been anticipating.

December credit outstanding was also revised to a $2.0 billion gain, from the initially reported $4.0 billion decline -- what would have been the sharpest decline in 12 years. The original December figures had analysts concerned it was signaling the onset of a slowdown in consumer spending, one of the main drivers of the U.S. economy.

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Bob Brusca, chief economist with Native American Securities in New York, said the willingness to tap more expensive revolving credit was another sign of"consumer exhaustion."

"The consumer may be at the end of this spending binge," he said.

January's big gain in credit stood in contrast to 2002's credit trend. The Fed said consumer credit outstanding advanced at only a 3.5 percent rate in the year, the slowest annual pace since 1992.

On other other hand, consumers jumped at low mortgage interest rates in 2002 to buy homes or refinance existing mortgages. On Thursday, the Fed said home mortgage debt - credit to buy homes as well as home equity loans - rose at a 12.4 percent pace in 2002, the fastest since 1987. Analysts say some of the money taken out in home equity loans was used to pay down higher-rate credit card debt.
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Misetich

The end of the road is near - no jobs and debts to pay. - its time to start selling some assets - just to service the debt