Crude oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) closed Friday at $73.02 per barrel, just $0.87 less than the previous week which posted the highest closing price of the year.
Oil analysts say when the U.S. dollar declines it essentially makes crude oil cheaper because the dollar is the prime currency with which oil is traded internationally. Since March, the U.S. Dollar has fallen by 12% versus a basket of currencies that includes the Euro, the Yen, the British Pound and the Swiss Franc. Additionally, investors often move toward crude oil as a hedge against a weak dollar.
And yet, even as crude oil ended the past week near a peak level for this year, the national average retail gasoline price slipped by 2 cents per gallon in the past week. Florida, Georgia and Tennessee prices are down by 2 cents, 1 cent, and 2 cents respectively.
Department of Energy data shows gasoline demand last week averaged just 9.1 million barrels per day, down 0.1% from the week before and down 3.2%, from one year ago.
â
http://accesswdun.com/article/2009/8/222827