AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report for Friday, 6/03/22

Oil started the week off with mixed readings after last week’s nearly 5% rise as investor sentiment in black gold continued to be buoyed by hopes of extension to the OPEC-led deal to curb production. U.S. crude showed cautious trade around the unchanged mark Monday with the benchmark unable to hold the $54 mark, though the London barrel managed to extend gains. The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude December contract slipped 2 cents, or 0.04%, to $53.88 a barrel by 5:12AM ET (9:12GMT). Click Read More below for additional information.

Futures dropped 1.3 percent in New York after rising 0.3 percent on Tuesday. Motor-fuel inventories climbed by 9.2 million barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute was said to report. That would be the biggest gain since January 2016 if replicated in government data due later on Wednesday. Nationwide crude stockpiles declined, according to the API data. “This bears all the hallmarks of a year-end lull in U.S. fuel demand, which in turn should help safeguard the current bout of range-bound trading,” said Stephen Brennock, an analyst at PVM Oil Associates Ltd. in London. Click Read More below for additional information.

“After a scant 0.1% decline in January, which wasn’t bad considering the harsh winter weather and California wildfires, truck tonnage had a robust gain in February” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “This outcome fits well with our growing optimism for the truck freight market after a two-year recession. Some of the gain in February was due to accelerated imports early in the year as shippers rushed to bring products into the U.S. before tariffs hit. Even accounting for this, the first two months of the year were positive, all things considered, indicating that the freight recovery has indeed begun.” In February, the ATA advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index equaled 115.2, up from 111.9 in January. The index, which is based on 2015 as 100, was up 0.6% from the same month last year, the second straight year-over-year increase, which hasn’t happened since early 2023. The not seasonally adjusted index, which calculates raw changes in tonnage hauled, equaled 104.8 in February, 4.7% below January’s reading of 110.0.