AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report for Friday, 6/09/23

National Average Price for Regular Unleaded Current: $2.674 Month Ago: $2.351 Year Ago: $2.185 National Average Price for Diesel Current: $2.701 Month Ago: $2.516 Year Ago: $2.362

With demand for the fuel accelerating in September after a hurricane knocked out a swath of U.S. refining and fires eliminated processing in Europe’s hub, diesel was credited with underpinning a rally in crude. Brent jumped above $60 a barrel last month and is still on an upward trajectory. But while those refinery issues are normalizing -- and diesel is weakening -- there’s been little let-up in the rally in crude futures. They reached a more than two-year high of $64.65 a barrel on Nov. 7, and remain close to that. “This will counter the recent support to crude,” Alan Gelder, vice-president of refining, chemicals and oil markets at Wood Mackenzie, said of signs the diesel market is weaker than expected. “Particularly if demand growth turns out to be disappointing” given the importance of diesel as a source of consumption during winter months. Click Read More below for additional information.

American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council and Decisiv Inc. said combined parts and labor expenses fell 1.4% during the fourth quarter of 2023. In the latest Decisiv/TMC North American Service Event Benchmark Report, TMC and Decisiv found that 25 key VMRS systems dipped in the final quarter of 2023, reversing a 2.1% increase the previous quarter. The decrease was driven largely by parts costs, which dropped 2.2% in the fourth quarter of 2023 while labor costs fell 0.2%. While quarter-over-quarter parts and labor costs both declined in the last three months of the year, the parts-to-labor ratio held steady at about 1.5 for the past year. On a year-over-year basis, combined parts and labor costs in final quarter of 2023 were 0.2% higher than the same quarter in 2022. However, in the annual comparison, a 2.2% drop in parts prices was offset by a 4.0% rise in labor costs.