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AR Index     517.05  -8.23  (-1.57%) Stocks of individual interest Toyota  75.61  +0.12 GM        0.70    -0.44 Ford      5.75    -0.03 Dow 8324.87  -204.51   (-2.40%) Prices at the pump have started to ease a bit, although it seems to have nothing to do with any kind of reality regarding supply and demand, just more of the games in the commodity markets. But it seems that this time around, unlike last year,  the traders haven't been able to force the markets to insane levels. The year-to-date chart of crude oil price divided by gas price at the pump is settling down to a steadier number...

AR Index     554.93  +48.67  (+9.61%) Stocks of individual interest Toyota  81.72   +6.40 GM        0.75      -0.68 Ford      6.13     +0.87 Dow 8721.44  +444.12   (+5.37%) With all the semi-uncertainty last week about whether GM would file bankruptcy and what would happen as a result, GM stock lost almost half its value in the last week. It's actually not quite to penny stock territory, but that 75 cent price tag might induce some speculation, even by small investors, in the GM that might emerge out of all this. Speaking of speculation, the current run up at the pumps, for no apparent underlying supply or demand reasons, shows that those commodity markets are still not quite right...

Despite the impression you get from the media sometimes, things do not swing in one direction forever. The market simply won't allow it. This past summer all we heard was "no end in sight" for spiraling oil and gas prices and stories with headlines like, "Road Warning: $7 Gas May Be Ahead"...

You're looking at a 6 year chart of the average U.S. price of a gallon of unleaded gasoline. (Thanks to gasbuddy.com) Gasoline for December delivery fell 8.8 cents, or 6.2 percent, to settle at $1.336 a gallon at 2:50 p.m...

Oil prices continue to trend downward as demand continues to decline and it's making the "experts" look pretty foolish. Consider this quote from a story on AFP this morning: A decline in oil prices gained momentum on Wednesday as the US Department of Energy (DoE) reported US gasoline stockpiles had jumped by 1.1 million barrels last week, confounding market expectations for a drop of 600,000 barrels. They were so close weren't they?..

Finally, a downturn we can really sink our teeth into! The average retail price for gasoline fell 33.3 cents over the last week to $3.15 a gallon, the biggest price decline ever recorded by the government, the Energy Department said on Tuesday. My local price is down to $2.97 for 87 octane from a peak of $4.05 this summer...

Is it just a snapshot of a tire showroom or is it an artistic black & white photo study? Spiking gas prices in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike raise the question... is it the market or price gouging?..

I have a degree in engineering. I've dealt with asymptotic stability criterion for nonlinear time-variant differential equations. Why is it that I can't understand the pricing of gasoline?..

College football has started again and with it comes the weekly influx of RV's to Happy Valley. A lot of folks were wondering how gas prices were going to affect the thongs that usually clog the roads leading to State College. If there was a motorhome that didn't make the trip, I didn't notice it...

 The IRS brings a lot of thoughts and images to your mind. Most of them aren't repeatable in mixed company and the Beatles captured a lot of it in the song "Taxman" even though they were referring to the British counterpart. But in the face of increased pressure from gas price, who would have thought that the IRS would be one of the first to provide a bit of relief of that pressure?..