Key Currency Exchange Rates for Friday, 8/11/23

National Average Price for Regular Unleaded Current: $3.538; Month Ago: $3.454; Year Ago: $3.541. National Average Price for Diesel Current: $3.878; Month Ago: $3.792; Year Ago: $3.849.

American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index decreased 3.5% in January after increasing 1.2% in December. In January, the index equaled 111.0 (2015=100) compared with 115.0 in December. ATA recently revised the seasonally adjusted index back five years as part of its annual revision. “January’s data was a snap back to reality for anyone thinking the freight market was about to turn the corner,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “Bad winter weather in January likely hurt volumes, not to mention sharp drops in a number of drivers of tonnage including retail sales, housing starts and manufacturing output.” December’s increase was revised down from our January 23 press release. Compared with January 2023, the SA index fell 4.7%, which was the eleventh straight year-over-year decrease. In December, the index was down 0.8% from a year earlier.

Futures slipped 0.5 percent in New York after rising 1.2 percent Monday. U.S. refiners closed by Hurricane Harvey more than two weeks ago continue to restart, including the nation’s largest, operated by Motiva Enterprises LLC. The 12 OPEC nations engaged in production cuts reduced their output by 109,000 barrels a day last month, according to a person familiar with the matter. The hurricanes have rattled energy markets, with Irma shutting Florida fuel stations and ports and Harvey earlier halting about one-quarter of the nation’s refining capacity. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. forecasts the two storms will initially hurt crude demand by about 600,000 barrels a day, though the recovery will likely raise consumption and offset that loss. Click Read More below for additional detail.