Global| Aug 12 2008U.S. Gasoline Prices Down Again and Still The Lowest Since Late-May
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
The pump price for a gallon of regular gasoline repeated the prior week's decline and fell seven cents last week to $3.81 per gallon, according to the U.S. Department of Energy survey. The price has now fallen by 30 cents, or 7.4%, [...]
The pump price for a gallon of regular gasoline repeated the prior week's decline and fell seven cents last week to $3.81 per gallon, according to the U.S. Department of Energy survey. The price has now fallen by 30 cents, or 7.4%, from the peak five weeks ago. Last week's price for a gallon of regular gas was the lowest since late-May. For all grades of gasoline the average price fell another seven cents to $3.86 per gallon.
Yesterday the spot market price for a gallon of regular gasoline fell another two cents, from Friday, to $2.82 per gallon. That was versus last week's average of $2.92..
Weekly gasoline prices can be found in Haver's WEEKLY database, daily prices are in the DAILY database.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, though the demand for gasoline rose slightly w/w but demand during the latest four weeks fell 2.6% from a year earlier. That y/y decline nearly equaled the decline in gasoline demand three years ago when Hurricane Katrina struck and it limited gasoline supplies.
The DOE figures are available in Haver's OILWKLY database.
The price for a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell last week to an average $118.88 per barrel. That's down from the high early last week of 142.46.
Prices for natural gas fell again w/w to an average $8.69 per mmbtu (+36.1% y/y). The high for natural gas prices was five weeks ago at $13.19/mmbtu.
What Is the Optimal Inflation Rate? from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City is available here.
Divorcing Money from Monetary Policy from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York can be found here.
| Weekly Prices | 08/11/08 | 08/04/08 | Y/Y | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Regular Gasoline ($ per Gallon) | 3.81 | 3.88 | 37.5% | 2.80 | 2.57 | 2.27 |
| Light Sweet Crude Oil, WTI ($ per bbl.) | 118.88 | 123.84 | 65.2% | 72.25 | 66.12 | 56.60 |
Tom Moeller
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Prior to joining Haver Analytics in 2000, Mr. Moeller worked as the Economist at Chancellor Capital Management from 1985 to 1999. There, he developed comprehensive economic forecasts and interpreted economic data for equity and fixed income portfolio managers. Also at Chancellor, Mr. Moeller worked as an equity analyst and was responsible for researching and rating companies in the economically sensitive automobile and housing industries for investment in Chancellor’s equity portfolio. Prior to joining Chancellor, Mr. Moeller was an Economist at Citibank from 1979 to 1984. He also analyzed pricing behavior in the metals industry for the Council on Wage and Price Stability in Washington, D.C. In 1999, Mr. Moeller received the award for most accurate forecast from the Forecasters' Club of New York. From 1990 to 1992 he was President of the New York Association for Business Economists. Mr. Moeller earned an M.B.A. in Finance from Fordham University, where he graduated in 1987. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from George Washington University.
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