Courtesy of Doug Short.
Here is my weekly gasoline chart update from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) data. Gasoline prices at the pump fell for the fourth consecutive week. Rounded to the penny, the average for Regular dropped 8 cents and Premium 7 cents. Regular is up 26 and Premium 30 cents from their interim weekly lows in the December 19, 2011 EIA report.
As I write this, GasBuddy.com shows only Hawaii and Alaska with the average price of gasoline above $4, down from three states last week. New York and California are the only two states with prices above $3.90.
On a personal note, this afternoon my frugal wife filled our Prius at the Myrtle Beach Costco. She paid $2.949 a gallon (for Regular, of course).
How far are we from the interim high prices of 2011 and the all-time highs of 2008? Here’s a visual answer.
The next chart is a weekly chart overlay of West Texas Intermediate Crude, Brent Crude and unleaded gasoline end-of-day spot prices (GASO). WTIC is listed at 85.70, up 0.16 from last Monday. GASO hit its intraday high at 3.43 on April 3rd. It closed today at 2.62, down 0.02 from last Monday. As the chart illustrates, Brent Crude has become a better gauge than WTIC for the behavior of gasoline prices.
The volatility in crude oil and gasoline prices has been clearly reflected in recent years in both the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE). For additional perspective on how energy prices are factored into the CPI, see What Inflation Means to You: Inside the Consumer Price Index.
The chart below offers a comparison of the broader aggregate category of energy inflation since 2000, based on categories within Consumer Price Index (commentary here).
Here are some additional commentaries related to gasoline prices:
