Wouldn't speculation be entirely about supply and demand?
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Supposed to be. Even Steve Forbes has said that the market is wildly out of control and not responding to fundamentals.
We are paying for emergency level oil when demand is decreasing. We are at the point that if someone sneezes, oil goes up four to five dollars a barrel.
Rita has not even hit yet and with demand going down shouldnt prices be going down? Yes, they should - but they are not.
I hope the speculators will be happy when our economy is in shambles because of their irresponsibility.
Rita introduces uncertainty into the equation, and that'll drive the price up because the fear is not what today's gallon costs, but what tomorrow's might cost. The speculators are hedging that demand will remain at least constant. If it doesn't, if demand continues to decline, in the end they'll be the ones who ended up buying high and selling low, but that takes longer to play out than the reaction to potential uncertainty of supply.