Rising prices in a time of decreased consumer demand seems counterintuitive. However, that is only part of the pricing. I am not an economist, by any means, but I am given to understand that since the stock market is a shambles, the corporate bond market is now a matter of government whim rather than law, and since government bonds are more a matter of blind faith than finance, with the dollar being mass produced out of thin air by the Federal Reserve; investors are moving into commodities. Oil and gas are commodities, and they are more readily available for investment worldwide than gold and silver and do not attract same level of attention of government Revenue Agents as the metallic commodities. Thus more dollars are bidding for the oil and gas, driving up the price at the wholesale level, which passes through to the retail. At least that is how I see it. Your mileage may vary, of course.

Subotai Bahadur