nmap
03-18-2008, 20:08
Gasoline is something most of us have a practical interest in - so I was toying with some charts and came up with some results I thought were interesting.
I've attached a chart, transformed to PDF format.
$GASO is the symbol for unleaded gasoline, $WTIC is West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil, $GASO:$WTIC means the ratio of price of gasoline to oil, and $GASO:HOIL means the ratio of price of gasoline to heating oil.
RSI is an indicator. When it's low, it means that the item is "oversold" and likely to go up a bit; vice versa when it's high.
OK - so, all of that said, what seems interesting is that $GASO:$WTIC is quite low relative to where it has been over the last three years. The same is true of $GASO:HOIL.
So it seems as if we have two possibilities - either gasoline is cheap relative to crude oil other products and will go up a great deal, or crude oil has moved up more than it should have, and it will come down sharply.
One way (more expensive gasoline) is likely to be bad for the economy, whereas the other path (cheaper crude and less expensive gasoline) would be very good for the economy.
So, I thought I would offer the matter up for your comments. Any opinions?
I've attached a chart, transformed to PDF format.
$GASO is the symbol for unleaded gasoline, $WTIC is West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil, $GASO:$WTIC means the ratio of price of gasoline to oil, and $GASO:HOIL means the ratio of price of gasoline to heating oil.
RSI is an indicator. When it's low, it means that the item is "oversold" and likely to go up a bit; vice versa when it's high.
OK - so, all of that said, what seems interesting is that $GASO:$WTIC is quite low relative to where it has been over the last three years. The same is true of $GASO:HOIL.
So it seems as if we have two possibilities - either gasoline is cheap relative to crude oil other products and will go up a great deal, or crude oil has moved up more than it should have, and it will come down sharply.
One way (more expensive gasoline) is likely to be bad for the economy, whereas the other path (cheaper crude and less expensive gasoline) would be very good for the economy.
So, I thought I would offer the matter up for your comments. Any opinions?