Fill ‘er up…
May 13th, 2007 by Grant in: Economics, Energy, General
Gas prices in my area jumped 20 cents over night a couple days ago, reaching a price of $3.19 per gallon of 87 octane.
Unfortunately, those on the West coast in San Francisco would consider this cheap.
I have to suspect that this rise in gas prices is going to have a lasting effect on the economy. An effect that has yet to be taken into consideration by the equities markets, as well as futures. The fed has a growing concern about the effects of the housing market on the economy, and only through the last meeting’s minutes are we starting to hear discussion of the consequences of higher energy prices.
My brother calls me a perpetual bear when it comes to the markets, and he might be right. However there are multiple forces that are lining up to force this economy into recession, and I suspect we’ll be feeling the heat (pardon the pun on this hot May afternoon) by the end of the year.
Housing, jobs, retail, gas… These are all things that are stacking up to drive the market down hill.
Perhaps on this Mother’s Day, a full tank of gas might just make a good gift!
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May 16th, 2007 at 9:21 am
You have to love those jumps in prices, you have to feel that mostly they are unexplainable. Although some are easy to explain, like the gas price being stable for a week but on Friday, just before the weekend, prices jump ten cents.
I drive just under sixty miles each way to work, passing through several small towns on the way it’s interesting to watch the changes in prices. One town all the stations are at $3.05/gal. A town over, they were at $3.05 as well, until one of the two stations went out of business and now the lone remaining station in town has jumped to $3.15. Ahh monopoly powers. The next town over is on an Indian reservation so they do not pay the NY state gas tax, at .40cents you would expect their price to be around $2.65-2.75 but interesting enough it’s $2.95. Just enough to get people to come in. They are making a tidy little profit.