Gas prices rose to the highest level in more than seven years Friday, on the heels of the U.S. oil benchmark topping $90 per barrel for the first time since 2014.
The national average for a gallon of gas stood at $3.423 on Friday, according to AAA, slightly surpassing the prior high-water mark of $3.422 from Nov. 8. Friday’s price means consumers are now paying the most at the pump since Sept. 10, 2014, AAA data shows. The national average stood at $2.44 a year ago.
The rapid rise in prices is contributing to inflationary fears across the economy and is creating a headache for the Biden administration. “Gas prices at the pump are up. We’re working to bring them down, but they’re up,” President Joe Biden said Friday within the context of higher prices across the board for consumers.
“It’s going to be potentially a pricier year than anticipated,” Patrick De Haan, head of Petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. told CNBC. Mr. De Haan predicted that the national average could be more than $4 per gallon by Memorial Day. On Thursday, oil prices went above $90 a barrel for the first time since 2014, reported CNBC.
The U.S. oil benchmark, West Texas Intermediate Crude futures, “gained more than 2% to trade as high as $90.23 per barrel,” according to CNBC. Prices haven’t been above the $90 mark since October 2014. Brent crude, the international benchmark, gained 1.7% to trade at $91.
Meanwhile, The Omicron variant put a massive speed bump in the road to America’s recovery this winter. The first signs of trouble could show up in the January jobs report Friday. The White House on Monday prepared Americans for disappointment about the jobs numbers:
Jared Bernstein, a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, told CNN the number of jobs added at the start of 2022 could be “unusually low” because of Omicron. The highly infectious variant led millions of workers to call in sick, or in some cases show up to work ill, in the past weeks. Economists polled by Refinitiv predict 150,000 jobs were added in January. That would make it the worst report since December 2020, when the economy shed jobs. Rising Covid infections were also an issue then.
