The price of WTI crude oil futures settled at $107.67. That's down $2.93 or -2.65%.
It was a another volatile day with the low price of $106.43, and the high price over $10 from that low at $116.57.
The move to the upside today took the contract price above the August 2013 high, and the May 2011 high. The pair traded at the highest level since the week of September 8, 2008.
Recall at that time the price was coming quickly off of the all-time high price of $147.27 at the end of June 2008.
Gas prices hit a new cycle high of $3.72 in the US today, with the all-time record at $4.10 from 2008 within it's sites. Today, San Francisco became the first US city average the top five dollars a gallon on average.
The move off of the high price today saw the price move down to test the 38.2% retracement of the move up from the last swing low on February 25. That retracement came at $106.40. The low price today reached $106.43 - just above that retracement level.
It will ultimately take a move below that 38.2% retracement level to give the sellers some additional confidence. Absent that, and the correction seen today is simply a plain-vanilla variety of the last trend move higher.
Since the December 2 low at $62.46, the price of crude oil is up about 46% at current levels. That is a big move and certainly a tail wind for inflation going forward.
