·
The retail price for a gallon of regular gasoline topped $3.50
last week. According to the U.S. Department of Energy survey, prices
rose twelve cents w/w to a new record of $3.51 per gallon.
· Higher prices on the spot market drove the rise and as of yesterday, the wholesale price of gasoline was up another six cents from last week's average.
· Strength in crude oil
prices is behind the strength in gasoline prices. Yesterday's price of $117.48
for a barrel of WTI crude compared to an average $114.41 last week.
· Prices for natural gas also have been notably strong. The wholesale price of $10.13 per mmbtu was not a record but it was up by more than one-third from last year.
· Energy and the Economy from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis can be found here.
· Deliverability and Regional Pricing in U.S. Natural Gas Markets is a working paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and it can be found here.