Many analysts have pointed to $117-a-barrel as a technically significant threshhold for crude oil. They say it's a key resistance level that can trigger a rash of technical selling by computers, and that a move below that level suggests oil's slide is more than a brief pullback. Crude peaked at $147.27 on July 11th.
With oil losing its luster in the marketplace, the cost of gasoline has been creeping down, too. The average pump price for a gallon of gasoline has slipped to $3.836, down nearly 28 cents from the record high of $4.114 reached July 17th.
