When will gas prices stop rising?
Some analysts are puzzled by the increase, and one says the national average could easily top $4 a gallon this spring.
The start of 2013 has been tough for consumers. Many saw a chunk missing from their take-home pay when payroll taxes increased. Now they're getting hit at the gas pump, with fuel prices climbing by nearly 14% since Jan. 1 to an average $3.75 a gallon.
What's behind the jump? Refinery shutdowns are leading "to tighter supply, which also has driven up prices," a spokeswoman for AAA told The Wall Street Journal.
Hess (HES) is shutting down its Port Reading, N.J., refinery, while other refineries have reduced supply because of planned repairs. Refineries often use winter for maintenance, given historically lower demand for gasoline as drivers cut back in poor weather, the Journal notes.
But some analysts are puzzled by the rise, given that gas prices typically see a jump in March and April, when drivers start using their cars more frequently, Business Insider reports.
There's one trend analysts are agreeing on: Prices aren't likely to reverse direction anytime soon.
"Traditionally, gas prices rise anywhere from 40 to 60 cents a gallon in late March through early May," GasBuddy.com oil analyst Patrick DeHaan told the New York Post. He says if that happens this year, "it will easily send the national average over $4 a gallon."
That's already a reality in some areas. Residents in Southern California are paying the highest prices in the country, with Santa Barbara drivers paying an average of $4.32 a gallon, according to GasBuddy.com. The cheapest gas is found in Billings, Mt. -- a hub for state's oil boom -- where a gallon sells for an average of $3.17.
Some consumers are paying even more: A few locations have reported gas prices of more than $5 per gallon. One station in Los Angeles on Monday was selling regular unleaded for $5.19 a gallon.
At that price, a car with a 17-gallon tank would require more than $88 to fill up. With big bucks flowing into gas tanks, it's possible that consumers will look to cut back in other areas -- and that could create a challenge for the stock market and the U.S. economic recovery.
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When you are paying soo very much for gasoline who on thi earth are we expected to spend more and rise the economy!
When all our money goes into filling our tanks there is no more to spend Mr. Obama! YOU are allowing this practice thus our economy will not rise while Oil Corps run this country and they are running it into the ground!
Well don't these oil corps have to pay to forfeit all of our BLM lands for fracking now don't they.
Search and Destroy is the Oil Corps motto. Westmoreland once tried the Search and Destroy too in a war without a true cause.
Yet I am curious when this country forfeited our lands morals and values to that of the Oil Corps?
The Ol Corps are destroying this nation while those in Washington sit back and watch the destruction in hopeless Aw!!
Here are some numbers from Pat Buchanan:
Negative Trade Deficit: What we bought from our friends and what they bought from us. For Calendar Year 2012 -
Europe: up 16% to US $116 Billion
Italy: US $20 Billion
Ireland: US $25 Billion
Germany: US $60 Billion
So. Korea: up 25% to US $16.6 Billion
Japan: US $76 Billion Just deflated their Yen so it is cheaper to buy their goods.
Canada: US $32 Billion
Mexico: US $61 Billion
Globally: US $736 Billion or 5% of our GNP
China: Up 6.3 times to US $315 Billion
We buy from them and they "buy" all our our natural resources before Americans get to use them. Our prices go up. There is no middle class in America, because they are all in these other countries selling us cheap products and they don't purchase as much from us which makes our factories sit idle.
Of course they are doing repair work while the middle east is in termoil and has already raised their prices. They can do the repairs now and cause prices to go higher so when they do finish the market will have to fall or maintain the inflated prices that are being set now and they will continue to make even more money.
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MARKET UPDATE
[BRIEFING.COM] The major averages ended with solid gains as the S&P 500 rose 0.8%.
Stocks reached their highs one hour into the session and drifted near those levels into the afternoon. However, equities were rattled by a Financial Times story suggesting Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is likely to discuss tapering at his Wednesday press conference.
Although the story reiterated the need for improved economic conditions, and did not contain any new revelations, the mere ... More
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The Dow jumps 109 points after rising as many as 191. Oil-price jitters and rising rates trim gains. Those factors and the Fed may weigh on markets Tuesday.
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