Gas Prices, Oil and Stocks Down

The average price of a gallon of regular gas is $3.87, down a nickel from a week ago, and down nearly a penny from a year ago, according to the Department of Energy.

So it now costs less than it did a year ago to fill up your tank of gas.

The price of gas in the U.S. is coming down because the worst case scenarios that had been pushing crude oil higher have not come to pass, while worries about growth in Europe have worsened.

Denton Cinquegrana, Executive Editor with the Oil Price Information Service says that a lot of the increase in prices was "based on an assumption that we are going to have logistical problems, so far none of that has been seen."

Oil settled at $103.11 a barrel in New York trading today, down 77 cents.

Besides Europe an added drag on the U.S. markets were allegations of bribery scandal possibly reaching the highest levels of Walmart.

All the major stock indices were down today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 12,927.17 down 102 points or nearly 1 percent. Walmart closed down nearly 5 percent.

CLOSE

POINT CHANGE

% CHANGE

Dow

12,927.17

-102.09

-0.78%

Nasdaq

2,970.45

-30

-1.00%

S&P 500

1,366.94

-11.59

-0.84%