Gasoline and Crude Rise to New Records
Gas prices hit $3.60 a gallon and oil futures rose to a new record as well, near $120 a barrel, as strikes overseas raises concerns about crude supplies.
Light, sweet crude for June delivery rose to a record $119.93 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange overnight on concerns about supply disruptions in the U.K. and Nigeria. Prices later retreated to settle up 23 cents at $118.75 a barrel after the dollar stabilized against the euro.
At the pump, the national average price for a gallon of regular rose 0.4 cent overnight to a record $3.603 a gallon, according to a survey of stations by AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. While prices are 66 cents higher than a year ago, the rate of increase slowed since last week, when prices jumped more than 2 cents a day at times.
That could suggest that a price peak is near, analysts said. May gasoline futures fell 2.3 cents to settle at $3.0307 a gallon.
May heating oil futures fell 0.4 cent to settle at $3.2988 a gallon, and natural gas rose 31.7 cents to settle at $11.280 per 1,000 cubic feet.
