Trouble in the markets?
Numbers up again, but for how long?

Seems that the gains that oil prices made over the last couple of days has been pared by the realities seeping into the markets.

What we saw go up, and with consumer prices going up this week, may be coming down soon.

All the data now coming in shows that oil prices could be facing their biggest challenge to stay up in price yet. A drop in crude oil imports through China along with a weaker than expected jobs report may soon play into the markets as demand for crude oil may be slipping.

While oil prices for West Texas Intermediate rose on average from last week by close on $4 US a barrel, oil has begun a slide that, for some, hopefully will continue into the next session and into refined commodities.

Just not this week...

Here's what I have for this regulatory session so far, keeping in mind that I only have five days of data on gasoline prices. The rest of the numbers cover six days of market trading:

• Heating and stove oils show an added 3.6 cents per litre.
• Diesel shows an increase of 4.2 cents a litre, and...
• Gasoline shows an added 3.4 cents a litre.

Oh well...

This change will put us halfway through July with the price still below the $1.40 a litre the numbers showed as the average for the summer for the St. John's area from myself, and well below the $1.50 a litre expected by all the other analysts and speculators out there.

Remember that word "volatility" is still a factor out there...

I'll be back tomorrow night with the final numbers on what to expect for Thursday morning.

Regards,

George