AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report for Friday, 5/19/23

Strong buying emerged in oil markets Tuesday as focus shifted to an expected decline in Iranian crude exports after a senior U.S. State Department official said countries must stop purchasing crude by the start of November or face sanctions. Companies that buy Iranian crude oil must completely halt those exports by Nov. 4 or else they will face powerful U.S. sanctions, a senior State Department official told reporters on Tuesday. Oil prices moved sharply higher as investor focus shifted to the prospect of a void in global supplies as Iran – OPEC's third largest producer – exports more than 2 million barrels per day (bpd). Click Read More below for additional information.

U.S. Paper Converters Inc. announced Monday it's shutting down its Appleton facility, leaving more than 50 people without a job. It's the latest in a series of devastating closures and layoffs from paper companies in the Fox Valley. Prior to this, Appleton Coated announced it was in receivership before being sold to a liquidation company. Hundreds of people were laid off, and many are trying to find work through the Bay Area Workforce Development Board. Some of those laid off employees said they know exactly how the U.S. Paper Converters employees feel. Click Read More below for additional information.

American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index rose 0.4% in December after decreasing 2.5% in November. In December, the index equaled 115.2 (2015=100) versus 114.8 in November. “Despite the small gain in December, for-hire truck tonnage clearly decelerated during the final quarter in 2022,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “In fact, tonnage outperformed some other key metrics that drive truck freight, like housing starts and factory output during the final month of the year. This is probably because contract truckload freight is still outperforming the spot market and less-than-truckload freight after underperforming both of those sectors in 2021.” For all of 2022, tonnage was up 3.4%, which was the best annual gain since 2018.