The Wall Street Journal reports that on Wednesday, prices were dropping so fast for some commodities that trading was stopped: …a steep decline in gasoline futures Wednesday led CME Group Inc. (CME) to temporarily freeze activity in three of its most heavily traded contracts on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Just past noon EDT, trading in crude oil, heating oil and gasoline futures was halted for five minutes after gasoline fell to its daily 25 centread more…
Gas prices this morning stand at $3.70/gallon in our town, so I thought I would do a breakdown of what’s behind the price at the pump here in the State of Michigan. 9% Marketing and Distribution Costs = $.333 11% Refining Costs = $.407 13% Federal, State and Local Taxes = .481 67% Price of Crude Oil = $2.479 So, what’s behind the price of crude oil? This isn’t as simple to break down. Supply andread more…
Oil is now selling for more than $106/barrel, and the resounding headline is “oil rises on concern about unrest in Libya”. Let’s take a quick look: Libya accounts for only 2% of the world’s oil production. The United States has an abundance of gasoline in storage. Our gas prices have gone up 5 cents nearly everyday for 10 days now. Big trading firms have nearly twice as many long contracts open right now for oil asread more…
On February 24, 2011, our price for a gallon of gasoline here in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, was $3.28. Today, March 4, 2011, our gas price is $3.64/gallon! A 36 cent increase in just over a week. A gallon of fat-free milk at our local grocery, now costs $4.29. My Saturn Vue gets 25 miles per gallon of gasoline. I’m not sure how many miles my daughter gets per gallon of milk. I am tired of theread more…
Here in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, our gas prices went from $3.28 to $3.45/gallon on Friday. On Monday gas rose to $3.50/gallon. Yesterday $3.55. I am a little nervous to see where the prices are this morning when I head out for work. Places like California are closing in on $4.00 gasoline. Periodically I have brought out my Magic Snow Globe to address oil prices (it is my version of “speculation”). The globe seems a bit puzzledread more…
