Kentucky Energy (fka QMIN)

[smaz1969]

If they are having trouble keeping it above .0005 why have the majority of the trades been at .0006 today. You just keep trying to push that MM conspiracy crap when you have little to substantiate it.

It does make sense for the coal consumers to buy now while the demand is down and the price is low, except for one thing... If they take delivery of all that coal now, while they don't need it, they have to pay to store it until they can use it. It makes much more sense for them to hedge and buy coal futures if they are available. The savings can be comparable but they don't have to store the product until they can use it. That scenario does nothing to help Quest and other coal producers in a down market so the hedging options are probably not abundant right now. You cannot deny it... if the demand is not there and the market is weak, Quest cannot sell its coal profitably. It is an ugly situation for all coal producers. The market is working as it should though. As the demand decreases so does the commodity price. When the commodity price starts to drop to a level that is unprofitable for commodity producers they cut production and lay off workers. The near term direction of the coal markets is uncertain and so is Quest’s fate. The one thing that is certain is that Quest is being affected by the same market conditions that are screwing all coal producers. And they have far less wiggle room to spare. They were already riding on the thin edge of bankruptcy before the market tanked.