Gas Prices Hit 2023 High but Remain Far Below 2022 Peak
Gas has reached its highest average price since late 2022, according to data from AAA, hitting a national average of $3.75 per gallon on Sunday for regular unleaded gasoline.
You might think that all the summer driving is behind higher prices, but compared to 2022 or 2021, demand is "tepid," said AAA spokesperson Andrew Gross.
Instead, it's lower supply that's driving prices upward. Last month, Saudi Arabia, the largest OPEC+ producer, said it will continue through August the 10% cut (1 million barrels per day) that it began in July. Russia said it will cut an additional 500,000 barrels per day in August, according to Russian news reports.
Extreme heat across the U.S. has also constrained supplies, said Gross, by lowering the amount of oil that refineries can turn into gasoline.
While gas prices are 20 cents higher than in June, they are still well below the $4.23 per gallon paid a year ago, or the all-time high of $5.01 in mid-June 2022.
As gas prices climbed higher Friday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposed an 18% increase in the fuel economy of new vehicles. If adopted, automakers would need their fleets to average 43.5 miles per gallon by 2032, compared to the existing standard of 36.75 miles per gallon that fleets must average by 2026.
Reaching even the lower standards will be a big climb from current fuel economy of new vehicles, which was 25.4 miles per gallon for the 2021 model year, according to the EPA.
Kraft Heinz is splitting into two companies a decade after they joined in a massive merger that created one of the biggest food companies on the planet. One of the companies will include brands such as Heinz, Philadelphia cream cheese and Kraft Mac & Cheese. The other will include brands like Oscar Mayer, Kraft Singles and Lunchables. When the company formed in 2015 it wanted to capitalize on its massive scale, but shifting tastes complicated those plans, with households seeking to introduce healthier options at the table. Kraft Heinz's net revenue has fallen every year since 2020.
About 780,000 pressure washers sold at retailers like Home Depot are being recalled across the U.S. and Canada, due to a projectile hazard that has resulted in fractures and other injuries among some consumers.
President Donald Trump has fired one of two Democratic members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to break a 2-2 tie ahead of the board considering the largest railroad merger ever proposed.
Ford is recalling more than 355,000 of its pickup trucks across the U.S. because of an instrument panel display failure that’s resulted in critical information, like warning lights and vehicle speed, not showing up on the dashboard.
