| Driven in large part by market speculators, the price of gasoline has increased significantly recently--at a time when demand at the pump is down. In fact, demand for oil and gasoline is down so much that the U.S. has become a net exporter of the fossil fuel. Traders on the New York Mercantile Exchange have been buying up oil futures, driving the price per barrel to $106. The brewing crisis with Iran in the Persian Gulf has been cited as one reason for the increase in trading, but speculation would appear to be a bigger factor. "Speculation is now part of the DNA of oil prices. You cannot separate the two anymore. There is no demarcation," Fadel Gheit, an analyst at Oppenheimer & Co., told McClatchy Newspapers. "I still remain convinced oil prices are inflated." |
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