November 18, 2009

The dollar fell, imports slumped, inventories declined, and refinery utilization dropped again but prices barely rose today. Crude was +$0.34, gasoline +$0.005 and diesel actually shrank -$0.011. Traders figured that last week's storm was responsible for falling inventory and imports and since utilization was down, no matter what was being said about the growing economy, demand was down 2% for the year.