BANGOR – Consumers stunned by terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., called financial analysts with concerns about their portfolios Wednesday, while worrying about how much they will be paying for energy products.

Many went out and purchased American flags.

“We’re spending the day trying to convince people not to panic, to make decisions based on economics and not emotions,” said Harry Moses, branch manager of AG Edwards investment firm in Bangor. “We have lived through a number of wars and the markets have held up. We think that type of thinking should prevail.”

He said that after past national tragedies, the financial markets have initially fallen, but then have rebounded stronger than before the events happened. One important factor has been the availability of more money from the Federal Reserve for use by banks to use for corporate and other loans to ease expenses, such as increases in insurance claims, he said.

For consumers, the price they paid for gasoline went up at some stations by more than a dime per gallon Wednesday. Gene Guilford, executive director of the Maine Oil Dealers Association, said some wholesalers had raised their prices to dealers, while others had not. The ports in New York, Boston and Portland were closed Tuesday, but supplies were starting to reach the ports Wednesday.

Energy commodity prices are set at the Mercantile Exchange, Guilford said, and with the collapse of the World Trade Center on Tuesday, “the Mercantile Exchange ceased to exist.” Because of that, international petroleum companies such as ExxonMobil, Gulf, Irving Oil and others have to set prices based on activity on London markets.

Guilford said his association had been receiving “crank calls” from people accusing the oil dealers of taking advantage of the tragedy to make a profit. That’s not true, he said.

“Let me say, categorically … there is no one that is taking advantage of this here,” Guilford said. “There are some wholesale companies that increased their prices. Hopefully that is going to be short-term and hopefully things will calm.”

At the Maine Public Utilities Commission, officials postponed setting standard offer electricity rates for customers in the territories served by Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. and Central Maine Power Co.

Last week, commissioners decided to delay deliberations on rates because future market prices for electricity were declining. For consumers in Bangor Hydro’s territory, it would have meant a drop in prices. For those in CMP’s territory, a “modest” increase could be expected, said PUC Chairman Tom Welch.

Now, a determination of what people will pay for electricity starting March 1, 2002, has been temporarily put on hold, Welch said. “I’m just not prepared to speculate what the market is today or tomorrow or even next week.”

Even with weighty personal financial issues on their minds, however, many people put that aside, replacing those concerns with patriotism.

Several dozen flags were sold throughout the area Wednesday. Most of the stores said they were running out of flags and having to order more.

“We’re going to have a run on flags like we did during the Gulf War,” said Wade Beebe, a salesman at The Black Stove Shop in Bangor.

“It’s suddenly, kaboom,” said Vincent Lobozzo, owner of Tri-State Flag in Lewiston, about sales on Wednesday. “A lot of [customers] are saying, ‘It’s about time I did something to show my patriotism.'”