Key Currency Exchange Rates for Friday, 12/17/21

Motor fuel prices slipped 1.2 percent on Friday, the first decline in front-month futures in almost two weeks, after a 25 percent gain in August. Crude in New York extended declines following the worst month since March. About 4.4 million barrels a day of U.S. refining capacity remains shuttered. The government plans to supply 1 million barrels of crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to a Gulf Coast plant, the first emergency release in five years. Hurricane Harvey cut U.S. refining capacity to the lowest level since 2008 after its initial strike on the Texas coast late last week. It returned as a storm to hit Louisiana on Wednesday, bringing torrential rains that shut the biggest U.S. refinery, owned by Motiva Enterprises LLC in Port Arthur, Texas. The lack of production forced Colonial Pipeline Co. to curb flows to a link that carries fuels to the Northeast. Valero Energy Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc told wholesale customers Wednesday they don’t have enough gasoline and diesel to sell. Click Read More below for additional detail.

American Dollar to Canadian Dollar = 0.694644; American Dollar to Chinese Yuan = 0.137004; American Dollar to Euro = 1.043356; American Dollar to Japanese Yen = 0.006341; American Dollar to Mexican Peso = 0.049328.

American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index decreased 3.5% in January after increasing 1.2% in December. In January, the index equaled 111.0 (2015=100) compared with 115.0 in December. ATA recently revised the seasonally adjusted index back five years as part of its annual revision. “January’s data was a snap back to reality for anyone thinking the freight market was about to turn the corner,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “Bad winter weather in January likely hurt volumes, not to mention sharp drops in a number of drivers of tonnage including retail sales, housing starts and manufacturing output.” December’s increase was revised down from our January 23 press release. Compared with January 2023, the SA index fell 4.7%, which was the eleventh straight year-over-year decrease. In December, the index was down 0.8% from a year earlier.