Energy & precious metals - weekly review and outlook
Investing.com — With just a week symbolically left for the peak of summer driving, most Americans must be relieved that they survived not just the road but also prices at the pump.
Despite fears when the warm season began three months ago that we’ll go back to last summer’s gasoline record of $5 a gallon, Thursday’s weekly round-up of pump prices across the United States showed the national average at $3.82 a gallon, down 5 cents from the year-ago level of $3.87.
The previous week’s average was also $3.87 a gallon, meaning a similar discount week-on-week.
In fact, the retail price of gasoline was only higher when compared with a month ago, when it was about 13 cents more than the late-July average of $3.68.
But it isn’t time yet to wave the checkered flag on gasoline prices because the race isn’t quite over. That’s right: Drivers, don’t take a victory lap now because the American Automobile Association, or AAA, warns that prices could still spike in the near future as the North Atlantic storm season gets more intense over the Gulf Coast of Mexico where the backbone of oil production, refining and piping is located.
“Although the national average did a U-turn this week, the road ahead could lead to higher prices,” AAA spokesperson Andrew Gross wrote on a blog posted on the association’s website on Thursday. “Ongoing concerns regarding potential storm activity could hinder falling pump prices this fall.”
Despite growing demand for gasoline, the decline in the U.S. crude price from an early August high of almost $85 per barrel to below $80 now has managed to keep a lid on gasoline at the pump as well, Gross noted.
But that could change soon with the approach of the Sept. 4 Labor Day holiday, which unofficially marks the end
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