AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report for Friday, 6/29/18

American Dollar to Canadian Dollar = 0.741606; American Dollar to Chinese Yuan = 0.139011; American Dollar to Euro = 1.076754; American Dollar to Japanese Yen = 0.006652; American Dollar to Mexican Peso = 0.058666.

Futures in New York rose as much as 1.2 percent after dropping on Monday. While U.S. inventories are forecast to have added 3.4 million barrels last week, that would mark slower growth than the prior week. OPEC and its partners, which are cutting output to ease the global glut, still expect markets to balance by about the third quarter, according to people familiar with the matter. U.S. crude inventories are at their highest since December and probably grew again last week, according to a Bloomberg survey before government data due Wednesday. While supplies are set for a fourth weekly advance, the expected increase is smaller than the 5 million-barrel gain a week earlier. Click Read More below for additional information.

American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index decreased 4.5% in February after rising 1.8% in January. In February, the index equaled 110 (2015=100) compared with 115.2 in January. “February’s drop was exacerbated, perhaps completely caused, by the severe winter weather that impacted much of the country during the month,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “Many other economic indicators were also soft in February due to the bad storms, but I continue to expect a nice climb up for the economy and truck freight as economic stimulus checks are spent and more people are vaccinated.” January’s gain was revised up slightly to 1.8% from our February 23 press release. Compared with February 2020, the SA index fell 5.9%, which was preceded by a 1.6% year-over-year decline in January. In 2020, the index was 4% below the 2019 average.