Gasoline Prices: A Drop Before Thanksgiving

Here is my weekly gasoline chart update from Department of Energy data with an overlay of West Texas Crude WTIC. Gasoline prices at the pump — both regular and premium — dropped seven cents over the past week. Also WTIC finally declined, week-over-week, after six consecutive weeks of increases.

As I write this, GasBuddy.com still shows two states, Alaska and Hawaii, with the average price of regular above $4.

The price volatility in crude oil and gasoline have been clearly reflected in recent years in both the Consumer Price Index CPI and Personal Consumption Expenditures PCE. For additional perspective on how energy prices are factored into the CPI.

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).

Doug Short Ph.d is the author of dshort.com.