Cheap gas might not be around for much longer

TheStreet’s J.D. Durkin brings you the biggest news of the day, including why gas prices might soon be on the rise.

Transcript

00:00 I'm JD Durkin reporting from the New York Stock Exchange.

00:03 Investors are reacting to economic data from Thursday and from Friday.

00:07 The Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge, the PCE index, came in roughly in line

00:12 with expectations, revealing an annualized jump of 2.9% in December.

00:17 And fourth quarter GDP also came in higher than expected, underscoring the ongoing resilience

00:22 of the U.S. economy despite higher interest rates.

00:25 Wall Street is also looking ahead to a batch of big tech earnings.

00:29 The January jobs report and of course, the Fed's January policy meeting.

00:33 A decision on short-term interest rates will be made on Wednesday, January 31st.

00:38 Markets are pricing in a near 100% chance that the Fed holds rates steady for yet another

00:43 month.

00:45 In other news, you might want to enjoy cheap gas prices while you still can because analysts

00:49 predict you may soon be paying more at the pump.

00:53 According to the Oil Price Information Service, demand for gas is low despite the cheaper

00:57 prices.

00:58 The firm says during the week of January 15th, gasoline consumption fell to its lowest

01:02 level in the last 12 months.

01:05 The average price of a gallon of gas has hovered right around $3.10 for the month of January,

01:10 28 cents cheaper than it was the same time in 2023.

01:14 The global head of energy analysis for the OPIS explained why prices are about to increase,

01:20 saying quote, "Winter gasoline is perishable.

01:22 Every year the industry has to purge the system of the winter gasoline, which has a lot of

01:27 cheap components in it, and replace it with summer gasoline, which is more difficult to

01:31 make."

01:32 However, oil prices could throw a bit of a wrench into OPIS' analysis.

01:37 The firm says if oil prices crash, the price for gasoline could fall significantly.

01:42 Only two states currently have an average of $4 or more for a gallon of gas.

01:46 California stands at $4.48, while Hawaii has the highest average cost of gas in the U.S.

01:52 at $4.67 a gallon.

01:55 Twenty-eight states currently have average gas prices of $3 per gallon or less.

02:00 That will do it for your daily briefing.

02:02 From the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, I'm J.D. Durkin with The Street.

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