AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report for Friday, 1/12/24

National Average Price for Regular Unleaded Current: $2.115; Month Ago: $2.164; Year Ago: $2.595. National Average Price for Diesel Current: $2.393; Month Ago: $2.376; Year Ago: $3.009.

American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index increased 4.3% in February after decreasing 3.2% in January. In February, the index equaled 116.0 (2015=100) compared with 111.3 in January. “After a very soft January, due in part to winter storms, truck tonnage snapped back in February,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “February’s level was the highest in a year, yet the index still contracted from a year earlier, suggesting truck freight remains in a recession.” January’s decrease was revised up from our February 20 press release. Compared with February 2023, the index fell 1.4%, which was the twelfth straight year-over-year decline. In January, the index was down 4.5% from a year earlier.

Futures in New York slid 2.3 percent. Declines in the equity market, a rising dollar and concern that Trump’s tariff threats will spark a trade war acted as a downward force on crude oil. And at the same time, the Energy Information Administration reported American crude inventories rose by 2.41 million barrels last week, while production jumped to a fresh record. The EIA report also showed gasoline supplies declined for the first time since January and distillate inventories fell for a fourth straight week. Stockpiles at the key U.S. storage hub in Cushing, Oklahoma tumbled for an 11th week to the lowest since 2014. Crude inventories rose by 2.41 million barrels, lower than expectations. Click Read More below for additional information.