The price of oil and fuel products declined sharply in the week of May 9, with gasoline futures dropping from $2.44 per gallon to $2.10 per gallon, according to the WEXIndex Retail Fuel Price Index.

The drop far exceeded losses seen for equities, because a lot of de-leveraging was under way in crude oil and refined products' futures.

Wholesale prices for gasoline also fell in some markets. The $2.93 per gallon nationwide average retail price recorded on May 6 could be the highest number for the quarter, or event the year.

Diesel prices also dropped, but wholesale prices didn't fall below $2.20 per gallon. "High refinery runs and high inventories got attention last week once global money managers collectively realized that debt problems in Europe could spread," the WEXIndex reported.

"With the debt issues in Europe and large inventories of finished product, some experts are predicting some steep declines of over 50 cents per gallon at retail for both gasoline and diesel. Others are less bearish and think the price of gasoline could hover at around $2.75 for the remainder of the year. The good news for fleet managers is lower prices look to be on the horizon," according to the WEXIndex.