Diesel Falls 4¢ to $3.897 in Second Decline; Gasoline Drops for First Time in Six Weeks
Diesel declined for a second straight week, dropping 4 cents to $3.897 a gallon, while gasoline slipped for the first time in six weeks, the Department of Energy said Monday.
Trucking’s main fuel is now 90.6 cents higher than the same week last year, DOE said following its weekly survey of filling stations.
Diesel is now 22.7 cents below the year’s high of $4.124 set May 2, which was the highest national average in more than two-and-a-half years.
Gasoline fell 3.7 cents to $3.674 a gallon, turning around five weeks of increases, and is now 89.7 cents over the same week a year ago.
The fuel price downturns mirror oil prices that have nosedived in the past two trading days along with plunging equities markets.
Crude oil fell to an almost nine-month low $81.31 a barrel Monday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg reported. It was the lowest Nymex closing price since Nov. 23.
After falling more than 500 points Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 600 points Monday following the U.S. government’s credit-rating downgrade late Friday by one of three major credit-rating agencies, news reports said.
Each week, DOE surveys about 350 diesel filling stations to compile a national snapshot average price.
