Light, sweet crude dips under $100

Futures down, wholesale prices up.

First, the good news:

Crude oil on the futures market, however, briefly sank below the psychologically important $100-a-barrel mark for the first time since April 2...

...light, sweet crude for October delivery fell 6 cents to settle at $100.18 a barrel in afternoon trading, after briefly sinking to $99.99.

Investors think the bad economy is going to keep driving demand down.

But:

Wholesale gasoline prices on the Gulf Coast moved further into uncharted territory Friday, as refineries anticipated that Ike would lead to at least a significant pause in their operations, and at worst damage to their facilities. On Thursday, the Gulf Coast wholesale price of gasoline last traded at around $4.75 a gallon, according to OPIS, up substantially from about $3.25 Wednesday and less than $3 Tuesday.

But:

The fact that U.S. fuel demand is so weak right now might mean the recent surge in the wholesale price of gasoline...might not be passed along to consumers unless Ike's impact is severe and long-lasting.

The retail price nationwide moved up a little less than a penny today.