Global| Feb 23 2010U.S. Weekly Gasoline Prices Recover Somewhat
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
Continuing to move generally in a sideways pattern, the pump price for regular gasoline rose last week to $2.66. Nevertheless, prices remained up by more than one-third from last year. Yesterday, the spot market price for a gallon of [...]
Continuing
to move generally in a sideways pattern, the pump price for
regular gasoline rose last week to $2.66. Nevertheless,
prices remained up by more than one-third from last year. Yesterday,
the spot market price for a gallon of regular gasoline rose to its
highest level since January. The figures are reported by the U.S.
Department of Energy and can be found in Haver's WEEKLY
& DAILY databases.
The price for a barrel of light
sweet crude (WTI) oil recovered prior weakness and rose last week to
$78.30. Nevertheless, it was down from the early-January high of
$82.59. Yesterday, the spot price was up further to $80.16. 
Prices have
risen from $71.53 early this past December and are more than double the
December 2008 low of $32.37.
Demand for gasoline fell 3.0% last week versus one year ago. That decline compared to a 3.9% increase at the beginning of October. Breaking away from earlier y/y strength, the demand for residual fuel oil fell 3.7% y/y. Distillate demand fell 12.3% y/y, a decline more moderate than the 21.6% y/y shortfall at the beginning of last July. Inventories of crude oil and petroleum products slipped in February but were up 0.7% from one year ago.
U.S. natural gas prices have been roughly flat this year as temperatures have been volatile. They fell to an average $5.40 per mmbtu (+25.21% y/y) from the high of $6.50 early in January. Nevertheless they remained double the September low.
The energy price data can be found in Haver's WEEKLY database while the daily figures are in DAILY. The gasoline demand figures are in OILWKLY.
| Weekly Prices | 02/22/10 | 02/15/10 | 02/08/10 | Y/Y | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Regular Gasoline ($ per Gallon, Regular) | 2.66 | 2.61 | 2.65 | 39.1% | 2.35 | 3.25 | 2.80 |
| Light Sweet Crude Oil, WTI ($ per bbl.) | 78.30 | 73.91 | 74.59 | 111.7% | 61.39 | 100.16 | 72.25 |
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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