Topic
Retail motor fuel pricing in the United States, tracked as daily per-gallon national and state averages and their seasonal and year-on-year movement.
Brent crude was $108.51 a barrel at 7:45 a.m. Eastern on 16 October, up $1.84 in a day and about $47 above a year ago, Fortune reported. Its price page adds that pump prices often lag crude on the way down, so relief reaches fuel bills late.
Reality
U.S. retail sales rose 0.8% in September to $745.0 billion, but only 0.2% when gasoline is excluded, AP and Bloomberg reported. The series is not adjusted for prices, so the 0.6-point gap is the part of the gain most exposed to fuel inflation.
Perspective Coverage
4 publishersReality
Brent crude traded at $106.67 a barrel on October 15, about $44 above its price a year earlier, Fortune reported. That is roughly 70% higher. The page measures price only; margins and spending are left out.
Reality
Brent crude traded at $108.70 a barrel at 7:15 a.m. Eastern on October 14, roughly $46 above the same morning last year, according to Fortune. Against an implied $62.70 a year ago that is a rise of about 73%, a gap any fuel budget set on last year's costs has to fund.
Reality
Hurricane Isaias shut in almost two-thirds of U.S. Gulf oil output by Thursday night, Heatmap reported, up from about a quarter that morning in NBC's count. For fuel buyers the storm's refinery risk runs for days, inside a refining shortage GasBuddy's Patrick De Haan puts at three to six months.
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Some months-old 2026 Toyota Rav4s are listing for $3,000 to $6,000 above new dealer prices, according to CarGurus data. Toyota cannot build the hybrids fast enough, so sellers of nearly new ones are asking shoppers to pay to skip the wait.
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Brent crude sat at $104.74 a barrel on October 7, roughly $38.60 above a year earlier, according to Fortune's daily price page. A fuel or input budget built on last year's price now pays for just under two-thirds of the barrels it assumed.
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Five environmental groups asked a federal appeals court to review the Trump administration's cut of 2031 fuel economy targets to 34.9 mpg from a projected 50.4. Automaker and fleet plans built on the looser target now depend on a rule the petitioners want stopped.
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US consumer spending rose 6.1% in the year to August before inflation and 2.6% after it, Bureau of Economic Analysis data show. Prices rose faster in August alone than over the year, so the report argues for a slower path of rate cuts.
Reality
Brent traded at $102.56 a barrel on Sept. 30, up $2.37 in a day and $35.87 above a year earlier, a rise of about 54%. Any plan that counts on oil staying above $100 depends on a $2.56 margin, and a drop the size of the latest gain would nearly wipe it out.
Reality
Brent fell $2.56 to $100.19 a barrel on Sept. 29, still $32.86 above a year earlier, according to Fortune. Anyone buying fuel is still paying about 49% more per barrel than last autumn, and the day's drop narrows that gap only slightly.
Reality
Brent crude sold for $104.46 a barrel on Sept. 28, up $37.13 over the past year, according to Fortune. Fuel budgets built on last year's barrel need resetting, even though the data confirms only two sessions above $100.
Reality
Fortune priced Brent at $101.61 a barrel on Sept. 21, about $34.68 above a year earlier, for an implied base of $66.93. Crude is typically more than half the price of a gallon, and that is where the rise gets paid.
Reality
Todd Vasos told a Goldman Sachs conference that middle and upper-middle households now behave like Dollar General's under-$45,000 core shopper. The national gasoline average is $4.476 a gallon, up from $3.189.
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The national average hit $4.48 on Friday, $1.27 above last September, and the drivers Fortune interviewed describe trading groceries for fuel even as two of them say they will still vote Republican.
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Copper has climbed as much as 20% this year and an EV uses 2.9 times more of it than a gas car, so the buyer interest that $4.47 gasoline created is landing on an industry that already cut its capacity.
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Retail sales rose 1.2% in August to $773 billion, and 1.1% without gas stations. Part of that monthly jump refills a July hole left by Amazon Prime Day moving to June, so the 4.9% ex-gasoline annual rate carries the case.
Reality
Caracas puts the bill above $100 billion for reserves the White House says more than double America's, a stock claim with no schedule attached while the only new barrels come from Chevron tuning old wells.
Perspective Coverage
5 publishersReality
The national average reached $4.15 on Friday, above the 2012 Labor Day record of $3.82 but below May's $4.56 peak. For planning, the numbers that bite are August's $4.09 average and the $2.36 gap between states.
Reality