Five Things You Need To Know Today

• Third fiscal quarter trading with crude oil prices started last week. Investment banks predict higher future oil prices in 2012 that will move crude oil prices to more than $2 higher per barrel. A downgrade in Portuguese debt tempered some of the upward momentum.

• From May 6 through June 30, except two days in mid-May and two days in the first week of June, the daily national average price of gasoline was lower than the price for the previous day.

• The current national average retail price for a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline is $3.636, down 7.2 cents from last month.

• In Pennsylvania, today’s average price of self-serve gasoline is $3.638 down 8.8 cents from a month ago and 94.3 cents higher than a year ago. In the Philadelphia market, the average price for self- serve regular unleaded gasoline is $3.710 per gallon, which is eight cents lower than a month ago and 96 cents higher than a year ago. 

• The East Penn Region of AAA East Central, an affiliate of AAA and the Pennsylvania AAA Federation, has more than 280,000 members throughout its service area that includes Lehigh County, and part of Bucks, Carbon, Chester, Montgomery and Northampton Counties.

Source: Theresa Podguski and Priscilla Rosado of the East Penn Region of AAA East Central that covers local counties including Montgomery, Bucks and Chester.