AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report for Friday, 1/12/18

Oil edged up to about $49 a barrel on Monday as fewer drilling rigs were added in the United States, helping ease concerns that surging shale supplies will undermine OPEC-led production cuts. U.S. drillers added two oil rigs in the week to July 14, bringing the total to 765, Baker Hughes (BHGE.N) said on Friday. RIG-OL-USA-BHI Rig additions in the past four weeks averaged five, the slowest pace since November. Expectations that a long-awaited crude market rebalancing was under way was also bolstered by the sharp drop in U.S. crude inventories in the week to July 7.

American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index increased 2.4% in March after rising 0.7% in February. In March, the index equaled 118.8 (2015=100) versus 116.1 in February. “It is important to note that ATA’s for-hire tonnage data is dominated by contract freight with minimal amounts of spot market loads,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “And clearly contract freight was solid in March, witnessing the largest sequential gain since May 2020. March was also the eighth straight month-to-month improvement, with a total increase of 7.4% over that period. “During the first quarter, the index rose 2.4% from the final quarter of 2021 and increased 2.6% from a year earlier. While there might be some recent softness in the spot market, for-hire contract freight tonnage remains solid and is only limited by lack of capacity—both drivers and equipment—at contract fleets.”

American Dollar to Canadian Dollar = 0.784008; American Dollar to Chinese Yuan = 0.157151; American Dollar to Euro = 1.144151; American Dollar to Japanese Yen = 0.008678; American Dollar to Mexican Peso = 0.048461.