Pump Relief

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304331204577352272051744662.html?grcc=9d5b936889b917c063567670891a3e19Z10ZhpgeZ0Z237Z200Z79Z10&mod=WSJ_hps_sections_markets

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"Creativity is the joy of not knowing it all." (Ernie Zelinski)

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Gasoline futures are down 6.3% from their high for the year (March 26) as the price of crude oil that gets refined into gasoline has dropped a similar amount. I'm tired of the whole Iran thing: oil is going up or down because of the Iranian tensions - it's going up or down because of speculation. For example, the oil that Iran was selling China is still going to China...What boycott?

The average cost of a gallon of gas nationwide has fallen for two straight weeks according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Based on how gasoline futures work, gas prices at the pump should continue down over the next few weeks.

There are two major east-coast refineries that were scheduled to be closed (Sunoco and ConocoPhilips) which would have put pressure on prices. But, now both refineries are in discussions to be sold to new users.

The important thing here is that the hedge funds, pension funds and other money managers are reducing their bets that gasoline futures will rise.

And, demand for gasoline continues to drop. Government data released Wednesday showed a sharp drop in current gasoline inventories. But, even with that drop, there is nearly 3% more gasoline on hand at the moment than there was a year ago. According to the EIA, gasoline demand fell 3.2% last week compared to a year earlier.

Pump relief!