Another decline in the benchmark retail price of diesel used for most fuel surcharges is the most outward sign of a market that is sagging in several places. The Department of Energy/Energy Information Administration average weekly retail price declined 5.3 cents a gallon Monday, falling to $3.894. It was the fourth consecutive decline and the biggest one-week drop since Dec. 18, and it puts the price at its lowest level since Jan. 29. Retail prices are generally the last place to see the impact of other price moves up the supply chain, and this week's price is no different. Oil overall and diesel in particular have been on a downward trend for several weeks coming off a recent peak near the start of April when the international crude benchmark crossed the $90-a-barrel mark and talk of $100 a barrel began once again. But prices have fizzled since, as Middle East violence continues to have no impact on supplies of oil from the region. On Monday, that crude benchmark Brent closed at $83.33, a slight upturn from the $82.96-a-barrel price from Friday but a long way from a level that would raise fears about $100 prices. Ultra low sulfur diesel on the CME exchange has followed suit. From a settlement April 5 of $2.773 a gallon, ULSD settled Monday at $2.4611, a slight increase from the recent low Thursday when ULSD settled at $2.4431 a gallon but still well off the early April high. Diesel markets have been elevated relative to crude for months now in part because inventories of diesel and other distillate products stubbornly would not build. Various indicators of the level of inventories, whether in the U.S. or globally, all pointed to tight stocks. But in the U.S. at least, that trend may be breaking.  According to the weekly report from the EIA, U.S. inventories of ULSD have been stuck between 106 million and a little more than 108 million barrels since the start of March. window.googletag = window.googletag ...