Updated: Dec. 27, 2001                               [IMAGE]Shedding light on power prices  Competition in Europe's electricity markets has brought more choice for consumers, resulting in lower prices in most cases. It also has triggered the end of price transparency, at least in the industrial and commercial (I&C) customer segments.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                [IMAGE]Fight over hydro project could become war Outcome could set precedent for other relicensing   Environmental issues may be deciding factor                                                          [IMAGE]Fitting the bill SPL Worldgroup moves utilities to one-stop billing  Netherlands, Germany ahead of the game                                                          [IMAGE]A sci-fi twist in clean coal research Bioprocessing cleans impurities  Scientists create coal-adapted microbes                                                 Reliant, Orion merger clears two regulatory hurdles [IMAGE]full story...  Reliant unit, Gexa make price offerings in Texas [IMAGE]full story...  NEPOOL asks FERC to approve new payment deal for Enron [IMAGE]full story...  Centennial Pipeline may be mixed blessing in U.S. Midwest [IMAGE]full story...  SCANA subsidiary files for new interstate natural gas pipeline [IMAGE]full story...  Interview: NYMEX undergoing transformation [IMAGE]full story...  Spanish generators may see income drop [IMAGE]full story...  Patterson-UTI buys 17 rigs from Cleere Drilling [IMAGE]full story...  PG&E payment plan to Calpine approved by bankruptcy court [IMAGE]full story...  Enron, Mirant urge FERC to reject Nevada complaints [IMAGE]full story...  [IMAGE]To view all of today's Executive News headlines, [IMAGE]click here                              Copyright ? 2001 - Platts, All Rights Reserved      Market Brief   Wednesday, December 26 Stocks Close Change % Change DJIA 10,088.14 52.8  0.53% DJ 15 Util. 289.80 5.1  1.79% NASDAQ 1,960.70 14.87  0.76% S&P 500 1,149.37 4.5  0.39%     Market Vols Close Change % Change AMEX (000) 95,077 (27,481.0) -22.42% NASDAQ (000) 1,127,431 (1,222,219.0) -52.02% NYSE (000) 792,634 (915,281.0) -53.59%     Commodities Close Change % Change Crude Oil (Feb) 21.27 1.65  8.41% Heating Oil (Jan) 0.5946 0.046  8.42% Nat. Gas (Henry) 2.911 0.016  0.55% Propane (Jan) 34.25 2.25  7.03% Palo Verde (Jan) 28.00 0.00  0.00% COB (Jan) 28.00 0.00  0.00% PJM (Jan) 31.15 0.00  0.00%     Dollar US $ Close Change % Change Australia $  1.968 0.000  0.00% Canada $   1.60 0.016  1.01% Germany Dmark  2.23 0.022  1.00% Euro   0.8791 (0.009) -1.00% Japan ?en  130.8 1.200  0.93% Mexico NP 9.13 0.010  0.11% UK Pound   0.6879 (0.0080) -1.15%     Foreign Indices Close Change % Change Arg MerVal 320.46 0.00  0.00% Austr All Ord. 3,335.20 21.10  0.64% Braz Bovespa 13358.42 (10.11) -0.08% Can TSE 300  7552.59 24.29  0.32% Germany DAX 5019.01 0.00  0.00% HK HangSeng 11209.78 51.68  0.46% Japan Nikkei 225  10192.57 (142.88) -1.38% Mexico IPC  6380.60 6371.84  0.00% UK FTSE 100 5,159.20 5177.40  0.00%       Source:  Yahoo!, TradingDay.com and NYMEX.com   	                                	  	


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