AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report for Friday, 10/28/22

American Dollar to Canadian Dollar = 0.765834; American Dollar to Chinese Yuan = 0.145746; American Dollar to Euro = 1.191712; American Dollar to Japanese Yen = 0.009505; American Dollar to Mexican Peso = 0.045742.

American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index increased 2.1% in December after falling 1.4% in November. In December, the index equaled 115.7 (2015=100) compared with 113.3 in November. “While 2023 ended on a better note, truck tonnage remained in a recession as it continued to fall on a year-over-year basis,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “With that said, for-hire contract freight, which is what comprises our index, in December was 2.6% above the trough in April. For the entire year, tonnage contracted 1.7% from 2022 levels. This makes 2023 the worst annual reading since 2020 when the index fell 4% from 2019, and the only year since 2020 that tonnage contracted.” Compared with December 2022, the SA index fell 0.5%, which was the tenth straight year-over-year decrease, albeit the smallest over that period. In November, the index was down 1.6% from a year earlier.

Geopolitical tensions are affecting prices now and will lift crude higher if they persist, Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency, said in an interview on Thursday. Meanwhile, trade disputes such as the one between U.S. and China that’s hurt investor sentiment recently are not unusual and won’t have “a direct impact on oil markets for now,” he said on Bloomberg Television in New Delhi. Crude has surged to levels last seen in 2014 as the risk of violent conflict grips the market and raises concerns over potential Middle East supply disruptions. Top OPEC producer Saudi Arabia on Wednesday intercepted a missile attack by Yemeni rebels, who are seen as being supported by fellow group member Iran. That was after U.S. President Donald Trump warned Russia to expect an American missile barrage toward its ally, Syria. Click Read More below for additional information.