Gasoline fell on speculation that supplies rose last week as demand slipped and amid signs the economic recovery has slowed. The Energy Department will probably report today that gasoline stockpiles rose 350,000 barrels, according to the median estimate of 14 analysts in a survey by Bloomberg News. U.S. mortgage applications declined for a fourth week, indicating housing demand will be slow to improve as the jobless rate stays near a 26-year high. “There is no strong demand for oil and gasoline domestically,” said Phil Flynn, vice president of research at PFGBest in Chicago. “Being in the shoulder season, it’s hard to get excited about this market. Gasoline for October delivery fell 1.27 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $1.9352 a gallon at 9:57 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s index fell 0.8 percent in the week ended Sept. 24 to the lowest level in almost two months, the Washington-based group said today. Refinancing dropped to a seven-week low, while purchases increased for the first time in three weeks. U.S. retail gasoline demand fell for the fifth time in six weeks as fuel use declined everywhere except on the East Coast, MasterCard Inc. said yesterday. Motorists bought an average 8.98 million barrels of fuel a day in the week ended Sept. 24, down 0.2 percent from the prior week. API Report The industry-funded American Petroleum Institute reported yesterday that gasoline stockpiles increased 3.02 million barrels last week. The Energy Department is scheduled to report last week’s inventories at 10:30 a.m. today in Washington. “If there’s no striking number, we’ll be confined to the type of seesaw trading we’ve seen the first part of this week,” said Gene McGillian, an analyst and broker at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. The premium of gasoline over crude oil, or the crack spread, based on November contracts, narrowed about 21 cents to $4.96 a barrel. Supplies of distillates, including heating oil and diesel, rose 325,000 barrels, according to the survey. Crude oil inventories fell 700,000 barrels. The API said distillate supplies fell 2.81 million barrels last week. Heating oil for October delivery slipped 0.15 cent to $2.123 a gallon. The heating oil crack spread, based on November contracts, sank 1 cent to $14.04 a barrel. Regular gasoline at the pump, averaged nationwide, rose 0.1 cent to $2.692 a gallon yesterday, AAA said on its website. To contact the reporters on this story: Barbara Powell in Dallas at bpowell4@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net

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