The wild ride on Wall Street - the Dow finished up more than 100 points on Friday - affected the price of oil, which fell to around $86 per barrel.Strictly speaking, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) didn't fall directly to $86 from over $90. On Tuesday, WTI closed at a ten-month low of $79.30 after hitting an intraday low of $75.71. Friday, WTI closed at $85.38 a barrel. While this was down $0.34 (0.4%) from the day before, this is still a rise of more than $5.00 since Wednesday's close and $10.00 from the Wednesday intraday low.
On the other hand, it is a drop from Friday to Friday, as WTI dropped $1.50 (1.73%) from its $86.88 close on August 5, making it the third consecutive week of dropping weekly prices.
As for the price here, when I last checked on Thursday, the corner gas station was selling unleaded regular at $3.49. I'll go look after I post this entry to see if it has risen since then.
UPDATE: Unleaded regular is $3.65 at the corner station. Looks like I should have filled up Thursday.
Finally, Stuart Staniford at Early Warning has this very handy graph up of the relationship between crude prices and retail regular gas prices.
According to this graph, retail regular gasoline should be no more than $3.25 a gallon when WTI is $85 a barrel. Let's see if gas prices get there, including in Grand Rapids, where they shouldn't be so high right now.
I've seen this graph before. At MOCAD! I'm sure of it!
ReplyDeleteBut I think maybe they had it hanging upside down.
Nice touch mentioning MOCAD. Unfortunately, they have the following message up on their website:
ReplyDelete"MOCAD is closed for installation beginning Monday, August 1, 2011. We will reopen on Friday, September 16 with the exhibitions Stéphanie Nava: Considering a Plot (Dig for Victory) and barely there (Part II). The opening reception will include performances by Crash Course in Science with special guest Moon Pool and Dead Band."
Hm, Crash Course in Science. That sounds like my kind of band. Maybe the next "This one's for Xarb" post will feature their music, along with that of Moon Pool and Dead Band.
BTW, how did you like the pretty pictures of Jell-O?
Also, could you say hello to Kanoserig of Xilthor? Last I saw of him, he was living an a mile-high gray tower by the sea with the letters OSU painted on the side.
ReplyDeleteOSU as in OK State Uni? My Ball n' Chain's alma mater?
ReplyDeleteNo, Ohio State. Gray is one of their school colors. Scarlet is the other, and those letters were painted that brilliant shade of red.* Last I checked, OK State's colors were orange and black.
ReplyDelete*It's an imaginary tower in an imaginary world. Narb and I used to play Dungeons and Dragons together, although I didn't figure that out until just before I wrote that comment.