Courtesy of Doug Short
Here is my weekly gasoline chart update from Department of Energy data with an overlay of West Texas Crude (WTIC). Gasoline at the pump was essentially unchanged from last week. Regular is down 39 cents and premium 38 cents from their interim highs of last month. Meanwhile, WTIC is up 6.8% since last week’s check, which puts it 14.6% off its interim high set on April 29th.
As I write this, GasBuddy.com shows only two states (Alaska and Hawaii) with the average price of regular at or above $4. That’s the same situation as the last two weeks.
The price volatility in crude oil and gasoline have been clearly reflected over the past few months 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).
