WHEN $2.75 A GALLON SOUNDS GOOD ANALYSTS EXPECT IT BY SEPT. 30, BUT COMMUTERS NOT READY TO CELEBRATE.Byline: JULIA M. SCOTT Staff Writer If you haven't filled up your tank this week, you might want to wait. Experts say already-falling gas prices are about to plummet -- and could land with a thud 1. thud - Yet another metasyntactic variable (see foo). It is reported that at CMU from the mid-1970s the canonical series of these was "foo", "bar", "thud", "blat". 2. thud - Rare term for the hash character, "#" (ASCII 35). See ASCII for other synonyms. around $2.75 per gallon by the end of the month. Good news for consumers, right? In theory. But gas north of $2.50 per gallon is tough to stomach for a commuting culture with fresh memories of filling up with a $20 bill and still getting change. ``It still is high,'' said Shirly Naim of Woodland Hills, who commutes to downtown every workday. ``It still is too much.'' Industry analysts say cheaper gas is the result of basic supply-and-demand economics. But frenzied selling by gas traders, who bought up extra fuel over the summer in a gamble that higher prices were in for a longer run, has accelerated price declines at the pump. ``It's panic selling Panic Selling High volume selling brought about by sharp price declines. Notes: The main problem with panic selling is that investors are not evaluating fundamentals. Instead, they are selling on pure emotion. ,'' said Tom Kloza of the trade publication Oil Price Information Service. Traders are trying to avoid ``getting caught with gasoline at the end of the summer,'' he added. ``The trading community doesn't want to own it,'' Kloza said. Prices should drop 10 cents per gallon on average by the end of the week and fall to $2.75 per gallon of regular by month's end, he said. In other states, some gas stations might even flirt with $2 a gallon, he said. But don't expect rock-bottom offerings at a California station. Golden State motorists usually pay 20 cents to 30 cents a gallon more than the national average, analysts noted. Gas prices usually dip in October and November but started to fall early this year because of a weak hurricane season Hurricane season refers to a period in a year when hurricanes usually form. For more information see: Tropical cyclone#Times of formation. For a lists of past seasons, see:
Gas prices have been falling for a few weeks. Tuesday's average for a gallon of regular was $3.07 in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. , according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Carol Thorp, spokeswoman for the Auto Club of Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, . That's a half-cent less than it was Monday and about 16 cents less than last month. At the peak May 13, the average price was $3.40, Thorp said. That's when analysts noticed that Californians were starting to carpool car·pool n. also car pool 1. An arrangement whereby several participants or their children travel together in one vehicle, the participants sharing the costs and often taking turns as the driver. 2. and drive less. ``The threshold where people start (complaining) is about $2.90,'' Kloza said. ``But people (in California) start changing their behavior at $3.30.'' If prices fall as low as some predict, they will drop well below $2.99 -- what motorists paid this time last year, Thorp said. Even that won't get Reseda resident Mario Lopez Mario López, Jr. (born October 10, 1973), is an American actor who appeared on several television series. He first became well known for his portrayal of the character A.C. Slater on Saved by the Bell. , 36, too excited. ``It's still expensive,'' Lopez said while filling up at a station at the corner of Canoga Avenue and Oxnard Street. ``But if you need to use your car to get to your job, you have to pay it.'' Lopez said prices would have to drop to $2 per gallon before he uncorked the champagne. But don't wait too long to fill up. A refinery failure, outbreak of civil war in an oil-rich nation, a major hurricane or some gossip among market speculators could send prices through the roof. ``All it takes is one glitch A temporary or random hardware malfunction. It is possible that a bug in a program may cause the hardware to appear as if it had a glitch in it and vice versa. At times it can be extremely difficult to determine whether a problem lies within the hardware or the software. See glitch attack. ,'' Thorp said, ``that can change everything.'' Staff Writer Sue Doyle contributed to this story. julia.scott(at)dailynews.com (818) 713-3735 |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion