So that final kilowatt of power bought by a desperate local utility with generating problems sets the rate for all power sold that day. Also, California power demand has been growing by 12 percent annually for the past few years, but because of environmental restrictions, the power supply has been growing 1 percent a year. Add to this the soaring prices of natural gas, which is used to generate most of California's power. Coal is too dirty for the state's pollution control laws, and nuclear plants are out of the question. A disaster of their own making.
Analyst estimates vs. reality Q .
It seems obvious to me that stock analysts have a huge influence on the market. Say these analysts predict that X Corp. will show a profit of 30 cents a share for a given quarter and then X comes in with only 23 cents a share and the stock swoons on the basis of these analysts' forecast. Naive questions, probably, but I'm a naive investor. Analysts work for brokerage houses, and I have no idea how many there are. There must be at least a passel.