Have Prices Topped Out for the Summer?

Sunday, August 19, 2012, 9:45AM:  Have we topped out for the summer?  Since the August 10 re-set to $3.99, retail prices have been dropping into the $3.70’s, in part because wholesale prices have been falling, too.  Seems like they are getting those refineries and pipelines fixed.  We’ll keep monitoring the brother-calls theory.  As of Friday’s close, I calculate a price-to-retailers of $3.67 a gallon, which corresponds to a price floor of $3.57.  With $3.75 being the cheapest in Grand Rapids, we have room to drop further.  So, the earliest I would anticipate a price hike in Thursday, and that depends on how the markets trade the next few days.  Prediction:  falling prices continue. — Ed Aboufadel