Key Currency Exchange Rates for Friday, 2/2/24

National Average Price for Regular – Current: $2.458; Month Ago: $2.607; Year Ago: $2.232. National Average Price for Diesel – Current: $2.729; Month Ago: $2.720; Year Ago: $2.420.

Oil is losing steam after rising more than 5 percent last month as Trump repeatedly raises the stakes against China, rattling markets. Along with other risky assets, oil took a blow on concern the escalating tension will threaten growth that drives energy demand amid record U.S. output. That could hinder the efforts of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies to curb a global glut and prop up prices. “The market is currently concerned for the escalating China-U.S. trade war tensions,” said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at SEB AB. “And with good reason, since this will be bad for global growth and oil demand growth further down the road.” Click Read More below for additional information.

Trucking activity in the United States slipped in March, giving back a little more than half of the gain from February. Specifically, truck freight tonnage decreased 1.5% after surging 2.8% in February, according to the American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index. Solid manufacturing output in March, led by robust auto production, likely helped truck freight tonnage not fall more after a very strong February,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “Overall in the first quarter, tonnage increased marginally from both the fourth and first quarters of 2024. While the gains were not strong at half a percent and less, it was the first time that the quarterly average increased both sequentially and from a year earlier in two years. That tells me that the freight market did in fact turn around in the first three months of the year despite an uncertain outlook.” In March, the ATA advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index equaled 113.4, down from 115.1 in February. The index, which is based on 2015 as 100, was up 0.2% from the same month last year, the third straight year-over-year increase, which hasn’t happened since late 2022 and early 2023. The not seasonally adjusted index, which calculates raw changes in tonnage hauled, equaled 114.6 in March, 9.5% above February’s reading of 104.7.