Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Gasoline Demand -- September 16, 2020

I'll be off the net until later this evening.

I've said this since I began blogging.

If I were allowed only one metric to track the US economy, it would be gasoline demand. I've defended that argument successfully in the past.

Today's release was not good. The line graph is the four-week average; the oval circles the one-week average. Generally, if the four-week average is bad, I look for the one-week numbers to give me a bit of optimism.

I'm not seeing it.  

Link here.


This is ahead of Hurricane (?) Sally.

Now, off the net until this evening.

2 comments:

  1. Being the eternal optimist I think the slope of the line is less severe than the drop in the prior year which is indicative of slight further recovery. The part that is hard to track is the effect of weeks compared. The other two factors, flying and working from home may be masking some further recovery.

    Brian.

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    Replies
    1. I think you are exactly correct: working from home; universities/colleges/public schools with distance learning (moms driving kids to school less; etc). I missed all that -- thank you. But it suggests that gasoline demand may "reset" to a new "normal."

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