Oil steady at $100 a barrel this week

Market recovery?

Media release

Conception Bay South, NL, December 6^th, 2011- Consumers in Newfoundland and Labrador will not see too much of a change in prices as market volatility continues, but the fact that oil has stayed above $100.00 a barrel for the full week may be an indicator of where investors are seeing the world economy heading. That’s according to George Murphy, group researcher and member of the Consumer Group for Fair Gas prices.

“While the markets are still showing their volatility, oil prices have remained above the $100 US a barrel mark for the first time in months, and that may be an indicator that investors are seeing some market recovery. An unexpected gain in US jobs data this past week, the latest of several reports, may be a harbinger of things to come, that’s if the European Union can sort out its financial woes.” Murphy said.

The numbers

“Prices are showing very modest changes that are reflecting the performance of oil prices this past week. While oil increased by a dollar a US barrel, there was only a slight movement upwards by gasoline over the same period. Gasoline shows an added 1.4 cents a litre coming to consumers this Thursday while heating and stove oils show a drop of 1.2 cents a litre. Diesel shows a drop of 1.4 cents a litre as well. Of course, there’s no accounting for volatility in my numbers.”

Markets waiting for a January test drive?

“If we do see more signs of market and economic recovery, we’re probably looking at a scenario that can best be described as a runner at the starting gates. We’re just waiting for the sign that sets the gun off with investors running with whatever they can put their money into the fastest, and that next sign has to come from Europe where austerity programming and debt-load has to be dealt with. If Europe can say they’re handling a difficult financial situation and they prove it, then China is sure to follow with consumers elsewhere starting to spend again. We just may have to wait and see what consumers spend like in January to find out how tough it is on the consumer. We already know they’re going to spend in December.”

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For more information, contact;

George Murphy

Group researcher/member

Consumer Group for Fair Gas Prices