Phila. area gas prices: No break, but no higher

Maybe the gas prices were too busy dealing with the rain, but they remained steady over night here and at the national level.

In the five-county Philadelphia region, the average for a gallon of regular no-lead held at $4.04, and across the river in South Jersey, the price was $3.88, according to figures from AAA Mid-Atlantic.

The national average was at $3.98.

Diesel prices weren't moving much, either: The Philadelphia region saw the average price drop a penny, to $4.98. South Jersey's average for diesel held at $4.73.

The national diesel average remained at $4.78.

Oil prices dropped below $124 a barrel today after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke signaled that inflation had become a more prominent concern.

The contract fell $3.45 to settle at $124.31 a barrel in the previous session.

That was oil's lowest settlement price for a front-month contract on Nymex since May 15. Prices are now more than $11 below the trading record of $135.09 a barrel hit on May 22.

"The stars for a significant correction in crude oil are lining up," U.S. analyst and trader Stephen Schork said in a research note.

Evidence continues to mount that oil prices, nearly twice what they were a year ago, have finally cut into demand.

The latest MasterCard SpendingPulse survey found that demand for gasoline in the U.S. fell by 4.7 percent last week - which included the long Memorial Day holiday weekend - compared to the same week last year.

Averaged over the last four weeks, demand was down 6 percent last week compared to last year.

That dovetails with recent data from the Energy Department and Federal Highway Administration, as well as several other surveys suggesting high prices are cutting Americans' appetite for fuel. The U.S. is by far the world's largest consumer of energy and oil products, and swings in demand there can have an outsized impact on global prices.