Try a 26 cent a gallon increase in one day.
Read more: Local, Business
UPPER PENINSULA -- If you blinked on Tuesday, you might have missed it. At around mid-day, the price of gas in Marquette and other locations in the U.P. jumped a quarter a gallon or more.
That meant in Marquette, some stations that were charging $3.23 for a gallon of unleaded increased to $3.49.
Analysts believe it's due, at least in part, to the record-breaking prices for crude oil, along with concerns about inflation and recession.
That speculation is changing the balance of supply and demand.
"Suppliers, on one hand, will choose to keep the oil in the ground in the hopes of higher prices in the future," explains NMU economics professor Tawni Ferrarini. "By contrast, people like us, who are demanding the oil, will choose to buy now rather than later when oil prices are higher."
Ferrarini says consumer belt-tightening could ease prices eventually, but as long as there's uncertainty, the market will remain volatile.
