PROVIDENCE – Gasoline prices in Rhode Island and Massachusetts declined for the second consecutive week, reflecting the national trend, AAA Southern New England said Monday.
The auto club’s May 23 survey found the average price of self-serve, unleaded regular at Ocean State stations was $3.98, down 6 cents from a week ago and 8 cents over the past two weeks. Prices ranged from $3.73 to $4.11. A year ago, the average price was $2.88.
In Massachusetts, gasoline prices averaged $3.89, declining by 5 cents from the average price a week earlier. Nationally, prices dropped to an average of $3.85 from $3.96 last week.
According to Bloomberg News, gasoline for June delivery lost 3.17 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $2.90 a gallon at 9:41 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after falling as low as $2.87. Gasoline hasn’t settled below $2.90 since March 16.
Gasoline futures fell, it said, after a report showing that economic activity slowed in the Chicago area, indicated weaker demand, and as a surging dollar reduced the investment appeal of commodities.
Futures fell as the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s gauge of economic activity dropped below zero in April. Prices slid 4.5 percent last week as data indicated weakness in U.S. home sales, leading indicators and manufacturing, raising concern that fuel demand will decline. The dollar rose against all of its 16 most-traded counterparts.
“The dollar is looking stronger and there’s a global manufacturing slowdown, here, that’s really putting a damper on commodities,” said Phil Flynn, vice president of research at PFGBest in Chicago. “It’s really about demand destruction.”
At stations in Rhode Island this week, the survey found average self-serve prices of $4.14 per gallon for midgrade unleaded, $4.26 for premium unleaded gasoline and $4.14 for diesel.
