By Mark Huffman
ConsumerAffairs.com
September 11, 2009
Gasoline prices have remained essentially flat in the last
seven days, falling to a nationwide average of $2.58 a gallon,
according to AAA. That's down a penny from last Friday.
The national average price of diesel fuel is $2.674 a gallon, down just over a penny a gallon from last week.
Now that the summer driving season is behind us, gas prices could be expected to moderate a bit. The wild card, however, is the steadily weakening U.S. dollar. That could lead to higher oil prices and, in turn, higher prices at the pump.
"Generally, when the dollar weakens against other currencies such as the euro, traders view oil and other commodities as more stable investments. As a result, prices for such commodities tend to increase as the dollar weakens," said Andrew Delmege, AAA's manager of regulatory affairs.
"Since the close of trading last week, the dollar sank to its lowest level in almost a year against other currencies including the euro. When the value of the dollar falls significantly against other currencies, traders and others in the markets begin to grow weary about the potential for long term systemic inflation."At $3.38 a gallon, Alaska now has the highest average gasoline price in the United States, followed by Hawaii at $3.34 and California at $3.136 a gallon.
San Francisco remains the most expensive market for gasoline in California, with an average price of $3.223 a gallon. Stockton-Lodi has the cheapest gas, at $3.091 a gallon.
Gas prices continue to fall in Missouri, making it the cheapest state in which to fill up. The average price in Missouri today is $2.292 a gallon.
