TV Appearance Marked A Top For Prices

Saturday, July 14, 2007, 10:15 AM: My appearance on WOOD-TV 8 on Wednesday appears to have coincided with a top for wholesale prices. By that evening, as indicated by postings elsewhere on this site, wholesale prices were starting to head down and then BP started up the unit at its Whiting refinery that was contributing to the recent spike in prices. So, the lesson here is to have me appear on the news as a way to influence the refiners to get their refineries working again. I’m joking, but let’s see where we are at this morning. The Tuesday wholesale price spike has been reversed, but the Tuesday retail hike to $3.39 is still intact, which makes sense, because in my experience, retail prices hikes are usually based on the previous days’ wholesale price. That suggests to me that the 20-cent margin price is near $3.39. Prices are above $3.30 practically everywhere except on Cascade Rd and at the price clubs. So, I predict prices to fall slowly but surely the next few days, perhaps down to $3.19 in several places. Then we’ll see what happens next at the wholesale level.